Strength Comes With Time
by GromHellscream12
Summary: Time determines your power. If you're at the wrong place, in the wrong time, you may find yourself dead.
1. Chapter 1

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclamer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 1: Don't Knock It If You Haven't Tried It 

"What knockers!!" **_Dr. Frankenstein (That's Frankonshteen! SHTEEEEN!!), Young Dr. Frienchestein_**

* * *

A single man stood in shock in a forested area. Now, there were many reasons for this man to be shocked: he had killed multiple enemies with just a sword, they were all wimps in spite of the hype, and he has yet to break a sweat. The detail that shocked him was an arrow that had embedded itself close to his heart. The leather armor underneath his shirt had saved him from immediate death, but the pain was excruciating.

The man swung his sword again, missing the new guy who was charging him. He then blocked an attempt to smash his face with a shield, and moments later impaled his enemy in the gut with his sword.

Another came and he dodged a blow that could have removed his head. Using his sword, he deflected his enemy's sword so it sliced air rather than neck, then bashed him in the face with the hilt, removing several teeth and rendering him unconscious.

Turning back to the on-coming horde, he received an arrow to the stomach. He went down to his knees, with his back to the enemy. He looked like he was the verge of surrender. But then he saw and remembered who he was protecting from these barbarians. With renewed vigor he sliced while turning, cutting in two what had already been a corpse. He might have apologized to the deceased for this accidental overkill, but there was no time for such niceties. He blocked yet another sword, then cut the legs out from under the latest attacker. He then stabbed this new dead guy, for good measure -- no need to take chances..

A masculine voice noted, "That's it? I could do that much with one hand against wimps like those!!"

The embattled fighter didn't seem to hear those words. He just sliced down another foe, and another, and caught a third arrow in his chest. Perhaps he didn't care to respond to criticism while in the midst of a life-or-death struggle.

Then a feminine voice sounded, "Well what did you expect from the 'Fellowship of the Ring', master swordsmen?"

He didn't respond to that either... Of course not, he was in the movie and they were just watching it, in the comfort of their living room, between slurping sodas and munching popcorn. Obviously, they must know more about fighting than he did. They had certainly seen far more battles than he had or ever will.

"Come on. Hit with three arrows and still not only alive, but awake and in pain. He should have passed out, damn it!!" The man, if he could be called that, looked somewhere between fifteen and seventeen years old. Wearing a tight black tee-shirt that showed off the muscles which he probably worked hard to build, and blue jeans, he was sitting on the floor crosslegged.

"Well Zack, maybe it's just how weapons were back then, it isn't that cheezy at... Okay, did that guy just block a thrown knife with a sword?" The girl, wearing a red shirt and blue jeans, was about the same age as the boy. She had a girl-next-door air to her. She seemed mildly annoyed. If it weren't for his comments, she would have loved this flick. But thanks to him she was having second thoughts about it.

"My point exactly Kyone. I'd say in real life, anyone from today would be able to kick the ass of anyone from back in the old sword days. The past was full of idiots, and the present is full of-"

"-it," she helped him to his feet and escorted him to the door.

"Well..."

"Whatever, Zack. I guess I'd beter get that school uniform to finalize my transfer here." Zack quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Don't Japanese schools give girls short skir..." Before Zack could finish his statement, the door slammed into his elbow.

"AHHHH!!!" Zack yelled, then the image of the warrior enduring three deadly arrows silently flashed before his eyes and he pressed a hand over his mouth to stifle his involuntary pain noises.

* * *

A fifteen-year-old, black-haired girl in a Japanese school-girl uniform was running. In hot pursuit appeard a silver-haired seventeen-year-old boy in red feudal Japanese clothes.

There were several things wrong with this picture. First, the girl had left the school, but she was still wearing a uniform months later. Second, the girl was a few hundred years away from home. The real kicker was that the boy had cat-like ears on his head. (But you shouldn't say that to his face if you wanted to keep your face.)

The girl looked over her shoulder, not in fear but in annoyance, and said, "I need to go home, Inuyasha. I haven't been there for two months. My Mom knows what's up, but my school has probably kicked me out, and for all I know the police are looking for me."

The afforementioned 'boy', Inuyasha, would not relent. "Damn it, Kagome, we have shards to hunt here. The longer we wait, the more shades Naraku will make. So get back here and detect shards, bitch."

Kagome was peeved at being called a bitch, but was used to Inuyasha's abrupt turns of speech. "Well, I need to go to school. Besides, we have no idea where to look for shards. We just fought and killed another new shade, and we're out of ramen."

Now, ramen is a kind of flavored noodle meal put in a plastic cup. To most people being told you are out of that is like being told you are out of Cheerios. To Inuyasha, hearing those words was like being told you have cancer of the penis. He slowed down on his chase. Unable to think of a good reason why she shouldn't go back to her home in the future to fetch more ramen, he shouted, "WE'RE OUT!? HOW DID WE RUN OUT? I HAVEN'T HAD ANY FOR THREE DAYS!! THREE RAMENLESS DAYS AND NOW YOU TELL ME 'WE'RE OUT'?!?"

"Yes. Now sit..."

Upon hearing those words, Inuyasha dropped face first on the ground. Some may wonder what word had that effect on him, and why it would make him passionately kiss dirt. The key word is 'sit'. Whenever Kagome says that word the teeth-and-beads necklace he wears smashes him violently to the ground, with the impact of a motorcycle crash.

"...down and think about someone other than yourself, for ONCE!!" Apparently not even noticing that she had accidentally used the word 'sit', and that he was taking a dirt nap, she jumped through a dry well nearby and was transported a few hundred years into the future...to the twenty-first century. Century of cars, guns, nukes, porno sites, and tests.

_to be continued_

* * *

Me: I'd say that's a better note to start on then my first fic attempt. I'll try my best to purge the evil from the site. For those who read the earlier one...I'M SORRY!! LET THIS UNWORTHY ONE LIVE!!! PEACE IN OUR TIME! Ehhhh, well anyway hope you got some chuckles out of it.

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

Sitemap with links to every page at this site

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	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 2: A Lesson in Uniformity 

"You know, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship." **_Various Movies and Shows_**

* * *

As Kagome walked into school, in her mind she was preparing for whatever the teachers or her friends might ask. She dreaded to imagine what kind of disease her grandfather gave as an excuse. Her only prayer was that it wasn't leprosy or skin cancer or rheumatism again, or even worse acne or halitosis.

"Hey, Kagome, how'd you get through the malaria?" Kagome might have answered, but she hesitated, having trouble remembering the girl's name.

"It must have been terrible," another now-stranger added.

What had happened to her mind? How could she call these people her friends, how could she strike up a conversation with them when she hadn't a clue who they were.

For some strange reason they seemed more brain-dead and clueless each time she came back from a trip to the past... If she were in an insulting mood, she'd say that calling them brain-dead was an insult to the morons of the world. But then again, it was she, not they, who couldn't remember...

"Oh! Hey, Kagome. Hope this might make any sicknesses a little less severe."

She sighed with relief. This one she did remember -- Hojo, the boy-friend wanta-be, who gave her gifts every time he saw her -- what he thought of as gifts: wierd-looking leaves from his backyard, or sandals with a fancy name and impossible to wear. For some strange reason he thought those might help defend against diseases. This time he had an ice cream cone in his hand. Amazing! Perhaps he was going through a metamorphosis. Maybe in another hundred years she might deign to call him a human being. And this was the only person in the entire school ground she could remember? She really needed to trade this mind of hers in for a better model, otherwise life would be total uncreative torture.

"It might not be much, but a cousin of mine says this worked well with his best friend."

In his other hand he had a dog bone. He gave her the dog bone, and slowly licked the ice cream himself.

Sweet. She stared at the dog bone in disbelief. "Who was your cousin's friend?" she finally asked.

"Never met him, but his name is Ted. That's the name of his dog, too."

"Duh... Hojo, you never cease to amaze me."

He beamed with pride at such unexpected praise.

One of the other girls asked, "Did you hear about the transfer girl?"

Oh great, Kagome thought, now I get a full dose of mindless gossip from idiots I don't even remember about other idiots I would never want to meet. A perfect combination.

"What transfer girl?" she asked. Nobody can call her antisocial...yet.

"An American girl. She's scary..."

"Well what's scary about her?"

"She speaks Japanese with no accent ...

"So she's intelligent, and has taste enough to respect our language."

"Well, like, I heard when she went to pick up her school uniform she beat up some guys in the store, said she wouldn't wear the skirt."

"So she doesn't like skirts. She's entitled to her opinion."

"Doesn't like short skirts. Really doesn't like them. She broke two noses and five arms."

"Oh... Perhaps it's a matter of a cultural differences. They do things differently in America."

"Huh?" the other girls asked.

"Okay, so I'm inclined to have a broad perspective, to be tolerant. I've had a little experience with different cultures. Actually, she sounds interesting. Was she expelled yet? Or is she still around? I suspect the whole incident was blown all out of proportion. If it really were broken arms and noses she could probably get a gig as a martial arts instructor. You shouldn't jump to conclusions. Probably no more than a few bruises. I'd need to see the evidence myself to believe anything more. And in that case, I'd love to hear the story from the girl herself."

Kagome thought that was the end of the discussion (and not a bad discussion, considering who she was talking to). Then someone shoved a newspaper in her face. On the front page, in full color, she saw three people being put in an ambulance. The headline read: "Yankee Rebels At Uniform Skirt."

"Okay, convicted and proven guilty."

She pushed the newspaper down and saw that the people near her were running away as if they just found out she had contagious bad breath. What?

"And proud of every bit of it," new voice chimed in behind her. Unfamiliar, feminine, but deep.

Kagome heard an echo in her head from some TV game show, "I'd like to solve the puzzle."

Turning around, she found a brown-haired girl, an inch or two taller than herself, wearing the school uniform shirt, but in slacks, not a skirt -- blue jeans and sneakers.

"So why the shirt? Or would that have cost a few more broken arms and your fist was getting tired?"

"Funny. Very funny. It was all in the spirit of compromise and international good will."

"Was that why you didn't end up in jail too?"

"No. My father is the American consul in Yokohama. I'm covered under diplomatic immunity. No parking tickets. No speeding tickets. And occasionally I get to beat up shopkeepers without being expelled. It's rather fun, actually. So long as I don't overdo it."

"Are you leveling with me?"

"Yes, and no. That's for you to decide. Maybe the police checked their computer files on me and saw that I've maimed a dozen black-belts, and they didn't want to find out if that was true."

"And the name is...?"

"Enoyk. But that's my name of power, not my American name. If you tell anyone, I won't be able to let you live. Sorry about that." Kagome almost took that too seriously...until noticing a smirk on the girl.

"I'll be sure to forget that, thank you. And your American name? Is that Annie Oakley or Calamity Jane?"

"No, just good old native American 'Kyone'."

"Huh?"

"That's Navajo for 'mind your own business.'" The smirk got wider.

"...you like to joke, don't you."

"When the mood's right. And your name?"

"Kagome. Hope you aren't expecting genius teachers or brainiac friends here. Some of these guys are quite...naive."

"To what degree."

"Enough to make one wonder how they haven't been sent to a brain surgeon. Naiveté isn't limited to the popular either, it's overrun the place. Just don't start breaking bones here."

"Why, they stupid enough to come back for more after just having their bones sticking out of their skin?"

"Well...yes. Your arms will go on strike after the first wave."

"Oh alright. But if there's anyone who reminds me of Golem, then my arms will make that person reminiscent of all three of those store fools."

"You've seen 'Lord of the Rings'?"

"Only just saw Fellowship yesterday. Don't ask me why just then, I've got enough aggravations."

_to be continued_

* * *

Me: Long scene, good material, nice talking, and a chance to bash Hojo. Impossible to get a chapter flowing much better than this. And for the fools, this Kyone is the same as the last chapter. I'll show Zack later.

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

Sitemap with links to every page at this site

* * *

Internet Business Showcase:

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Dog Training and Pet Care

Pet Health:   
Veterinary, Dog/Cat Veterinarians link-->

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Hair Restoration

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Used Cars Guide

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	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 3: Punk Rock 

"Who's next?" **_Goldburg_**

* * *

Inuyasha wished he could figure out why Kagome went to the future so often. Was it one of those stupid future-girl nonsense things she talked about sometimes -- a favorite 'rock group', or 'TV series', or some 'boy friend', or she missed her family? No, not her. Whatever it was, she kept going back at the most inopportune times, and suddenly, without warning. But not entirely randomly -- it was always when he least expected it, and she always 'sat' him embarrassingly and painfully. She was a royal pain in the face. Damn it, she had to stop this nonsense, and now. Naraku wasn't getting any weaker.

Every day that went by Naraku could have gained another shard, made another shade, or massacred another village. Lives were at stake, one of which being Miroku, a friend of theirs.

From all her complaining, it would make more sense if she ditched that whole future business. Or was she some kind of a masochist wanting to do all that 'homework' and sit through those classes at 'school'...

She seemed to love it here, in the carefree days of frequent sword-play violence on the streets, taking the occasional arrow or bow from the corpse of a random soldier from a random clan, with opportunities to battle demons (who could resist THAT?), and the satisfying feeling that you were doing something good...okay. She must be rubbing off on him he he just thought of doing 'good'.

Why should she want to go back to the world of 'TV commercials' and 'deodorants' (some of those crazy chemicals did hell this his nose and she either didn't care or notice), of 'walkmen' and 'Internet' and 'videogames' -- all that 'technology' nonsense. Who needed technology? All that really matters is your strength, your sweat, your will, your wits. She said that was a key detail about around here herself, over and over again. And then poof she was gone again. What could possibly be appealing about that techno-whatever world of the future?

...enough waiting. He was getting her NOW!! Screaming if need be.

* * *

The next day after school, the new friends continued their conversation.

"Do you have a dog?"

Kagome was tempted to say yes and his name is Inuyasha, but decided otherwise. "No, just know a few."

"And that's his version of a gift?" Kyone looked disbeleivingly at the dog bone Kagome showed her.

Kagome rolled her eyes. She didn't even know why she was talking about this. "Not his usual version. That would be some random herb he thinks will keep any sickness away."

"...and you haven't told him to fuck off?" Kagome looked at the ground.

"Well I, um, say, um..."

Kyone hit herself. "...you're too polite to him, eh?"

"Well...um, maybe?"

"You need to stop telling him softly you're not interested. You should scream 'get the fuck away you god damn stalker.' Anything less direct, blunt, and insulting won't get through his head."

"Hojo's not really that dumb. He's just..." Kagome was unable to to come up with a credible defense. She didn't even know why she was trying to defend this guy who could be classified as a walking talking rock.

"...a brain dead stalker who thinks a dog bone is a cool gift. Right."

Before Kagome could think of a response, they heard a crash. Not the kind of crash like cars colliding or a window breaking. More like a trash can dropped from a hundred feet. That noise gave Kagome an excuse to change the subject, "What was that?"

Before Kyone could answer, a body flew by and landed in a dumpster, with another loud crash.

"Sorry for the noise, ladies. That was me takin' out the trash," a masculine voice shot out, confidently, and casually. The speaker was a brown haired boy four inches taller than Kagome. He wore a black shirt and blue jeans, and was followed by four not-so-happy friends of the guy in the dumpster, who looked like a surgery patient who had just gotten enough anesthesia to knock him out for a week.

As the boy turned toward his would-be assailants, he said, "A little help would be good here, Kyone. These guys don't play fair."

Kagome raised an eyebrow and looked incredulously at Kyone. "Friend of yours?"

"His name's Zack, and I wouldn't expect him to need help against just four punks. But I haven't been in a fight for a long time -- almost three days now. In other words, excuse me for a minute. Looks like it's skull-cracking time."

After almost a year of being with Inuyasha, this situation sounded like same-old same-old to Kagome. "If you don't mind, I'll just watch this one."

One of the four charged Zack head on. The punk drew back his right hand and put all his weight behind the very predictable punch. Zack casually moved his head to the side, while at the same time delivering a left jab to the face, and a right kick to the stomach. A head butt to the jaw finished this one off.

Another ran up and delivered his knee to Zack's abdomen. The impact moved Zack back a foot, but he showed no more reaction than if someone had playfully shoved him. When the punk wound up and aimed a punch, Zack caught his hand, and using the punk's own momentum threw him into the same now-crowded dumpster.

Kyone ran towards the two remaining punks, with a sense of urgency -- if she didn't move quickly there would be no one left to fight.

She seemed to hesitate whether to take out the one on the right or the one on the left first. She chose the right.

While running she threw a punch. The punk dodged...only to end up with Kyone's knee at his stomach. Kyone then clobbered him on the back of the head with her entwined hands.

The final one picked up a nearby pipe and charged. When he swung it down, Kyone caught it. For a few seconds they struggled in a tug of war. Then, Kyone, with a look of disappointment that this wasn't any harder, kicked him in the groin, so hard that she raised him off the ground. He collapsed with gushers for eyes.

With a smile, Kyone asked, "Is that all there is? Oh well, fun while it lasted."

Zack had the same expression. "Took down three others before you got here. At first, they looked promising. Sorry to disappoint you. Guess I gave 'em too much credit."

"How did you get into this anyway?"

"Sat at 'their table' in 'their joint' and gave 'their leader' my fist."

"...itching for a fight, huh?"

"So? You were too."

"...but I didn't smash a gang leader's face to releive the itch."

"You just bashed someone's balls instead."

"So I got carried away and wanted to do something other than a cheesy struggle for a weapon."

"Then you should have headbutted 'em. Hittin' below the belt in just...cheap."

"Like throwing two people into a dumster is any less cheap?"

"Yes."

Now Kagome, being the person she is, did not want these two to fight eachother...she spends enough first aid kits. "Come on, I think watching a movie would do you guys some good. I think my brother just bought the expanded editions of 'Two Towers' and 'Return of the King' just yester...what?"

Zack and Kyone just stared at Kagome, then eachother, then Kagome again, and finally said in unison, "We'll watch it."

"Okay, do realize I live in a shrine. Now that may make you feel like your there in the movie, or it might make you feel like your in some parody of feudal times...or you might have the urge to stop listening to my grandfather's constant talk of legends, jump on a table, and scream 'will somebody just let me die right now of some random toilet seat crushing my skull.'"

They just stared at Kagome again...

_to be continued_

* * *

Me: ...I need to get these idiots to the past quick. Otherwise Kagome will be completely insane.

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

Sitemap with links to every page at this site

* * *

Internet Business Showcase:

Pet Boarding Services:   
Dog Training and Pet Care

Pet Health:   
Veterinary, Dog/Cat Veterinarians link-->

Insurance Investments:   
Viatical Settlements

Technology:   
RFID Tags, RFID Readers

Internet Marketing:   
Link Popularity & Link Exchanges

Hair Replacement:   
Hair Restoration for Hair Loss

Hair Transplant Surgery:  
Hair Restoration

Cosmetic Surgery:  
Plastic Surgery & Surgeons

Automotive:   
Used Cars Guide

Clothing:   
Homecoming & Prom Dresses link-->


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 4: A Little Flushed 

"Come with me, across the sea of time." _**Nymph,** **Cartoon Hercules Movie**_

* * *

Note: in this chapter, bold means words heard over television

Kyone and Zack suddenly stopped, to the chagrin of the fast-moving pedestrians all around them. In the midst of a block full of rectangular, tall modern glass and concrete apartment buildings, that could just as well have been in New York or London or Berlin, they had found a plot of well-cared for greenery, with a classic Shinto shrine in the middle. At the front of the property stood a traditional gateway, with two 20-foot tall posts made of teak wood, with two cross beams at the top -- like a wooden version of the Greek letter pi with two lines instead of one at the top.

"Damn!" Kyone exclaimed. "How did that get here? Or rather, how did it ever survive? Have you ever seen this before, Kagome?"

"All my life," Kagome laughed in reply. "Welcome, to my home."

She led the way up a winding flagstone path, past dozens of bonsai trees, then up a long staircase of chiseled stone. Then they passed through another gate into the home/shrine itself.

A traditional wood and stone well-house stood to the right, a two-story main shrine building to the left, and an ancient cherry tree grew in the middle.

Zack chuckled awkwardly, "Did we go through some sort of a time portal? Are a bunch of ronin samurai going to come popping out from those bushes and chop us to shreds as demon invaders? Or are they going to recruit us to save a village from bandits and dragons? This is seriously weird, Kagome, very seriously weird."

"Well, the food and the DVDs are seriously unwierd. Get a move on, buddy."

The inside of the main 'shrine' building looked like a hybrid of an ordinary Japanese house and a western house. The room they entered first was a western-style kitchen, with a microwave, oven, electric stove, and a refrigerator. From there one opened paper sliding doors to enter the dining room, with a traditional Japanese low table surrounded by bamboo mats on which diners would sit. The paper walls were painted with serene water-color scenes of forests and mountains and streams.

Kagome paused in obvious shock, "My God! When did they redecorate?!? Those paper walls didn't have that on them this morning. Or is my memory blanking out on me? Spooky."

When Kagome opened the sliding door on the other side of the table, still another world appeared -- two walls covered with huge flat screens, and an assortment of related electronics scattered about on the floor -- DVD player, Xbox, Playstation 2, Gamecube, and two top-of-the-line desktop computers, apparently hooked up to the flat screens on the walls. A wooden staircase in the corner led to the bedrooms. On the other side of the room, a well-worn couch was positioned in front of an ordinary old-fashioned TV.

Kyone advanced toward the couch like a sleep-walker in heaven while Zack turned back to explore the contents of the refrigerator.

* * *

While Kagome was searching for the Lord of the Rings DVD's, Kyone was cable surfing and bashing whatever was on.

Freddie vs. Jason -- "**Why won't you DIE?!?!**"

"Because my warranty hasn't expired yet," Kyone responded.

Independence Day -- "**Today we celebrate...**"

"Bush's impeachment."

Terminator -- "**I'll be back.**"

"For the sequel, if the price is right."

Casablanca -- "**Round up the usual suspects.**"

"Okay, instead of 87, let's say there were 90 of them."

Kagome yelled, "Kyone, get Zack to take it easy on the food! Mom stocked up with enough snacks for a couple dozen teenagers, but Zack is something else. Is his stomach a black hole?"

Kyone replied, "His black hole is above his neck. Beware whenever he opens his mouth. That's a portal to the emptiest place in the world."

Then she flipped the television back on and continued her channel surfing commentary:

Local News -- "**Eight honor-roll high school students were viciously attacked on their way home from school today.**"

That got Kyone's attention, "Hey, Zack. Eight brawled bastards. Get in here. I think our chumps of the day went to the cops and filed a report about us."

Zack ran in, with a hot-dog hanging from his mouth.

Local News -- "**While it is unknown how many attacked, we do know one of them was a female who wore a uniform for a middle school not too far from the crime scene. The police are investigating the matter and hope to capture this new gang before more people suffer from their unprovoked attacks.**"

After Zack finished swallowing his hot-dog, he shook his head. "Who believes this bull..."

Kyone hit herself in the head, covering her right eye. "Seriously..."

"**The parents insist their kids never deserved this beating. Model students, athletes, and scholars -- excellent candidates for the most competitive universities -- all are now in intensive care.**"

Kyone groaned. "Whose the liar with this story? The punks or the reporter?"

"Most likely, the reporter." Zack replied with a dead-pan voice.

Kagome, with the DVDs in hand, noted, "Wait, I know two of those guys. They flunked out of school last year, or were they expelled? Maybe both. Great students, yeah, sure."

"Maybe honor roll is martial arts?" Zack laughed.

"Hell, they could have black belts in tiddley winks," Kyone suggested.

Kagome suddenly noticed something in the window, and went slack-jawed. "Oh no...not today."

Reluctant to turn away from the TV screen with the creative 'news' report, Zack asked, "What 'not today'?"

"I, um, just remembered I have to visit my, um, cousin this afternoon." With frantic hand gestures, she tried to fend off any more questions. "I'm going to have to leave, which means you can stay for another three hours. Any longer and my family will arrive. We can do this another day, kay?"

"Why don't you have some food first here?" Zack pleaded, hoping to have a partner in eating this time.

"No, I tend to feel a little flushed on these trips."

"What's so bad about feeling 'flushed'?"

"Ask the toilet water." Kagome explained while dashing out of the room in evident distress.

Zack started heading back to the kitchen, but then halted in mid-step. "Hey wait, what about the DVD's?" He than dashed right after her, accidentally tripping over Kyone. When he got up, his belt buckle caught on Kyone's jeans, so he wound up pulling her along, protesting, as he ran.

"You idiot!" Kyone screamed, scrambling to stay on her feet.

The three ran towards the well house, each for different reasons. Kagome had a trip to make. Zack had DVD's to get. And Kyone just wanted to go back to the couch and crash. As it was all three would crash, in a different way.

Kagome grabbed an overstuffed yellow bag just before entering the well house, then she noticed her two "guests" were in hot pursuit. "Oops. You need the DVDs. My mistake. Not like I'll need them where I'm going."

Just as she turned to hand the DVDs to Zack, a clawed hand reached up from the well, grabbed her, and pulled her down.

Zack, on impulse, grabbed Kagome, instinctively trying to save her from unknown danger.

And Kyone grabbed Zack, to avoid having her jeans ripped off in his fall.

All of them tumbled down the deep, dry well.

Suddenly, in the fall, Kyone got hit with too many sensations at once for her body to handle. She felt like her left was dunked into icy water, but felt like her right was being burned. Her nose was sending smells of various flowers, oils, rotten fruits, and smog. What she heard though sounded like Zack puking...yet it was as if he was given a microphone and she had hearing aids. At the very moment she tried to scream, her tongue tasted dirt. All of this took less than half a second.

Barely conscious after an overload on information and then the quick lack of information, she promptly passed out.

* * *

"You IDIOT!!"

"WHAT!?"

"NOT ONLY DID YOU JUST DRAG ME DOWN THE WELL WITHOUT WARNING, BUT YOU ALSO DRAGGED THESE TWO WITH ME!!"

"NOT MY FALT THEY HELD ON SO TIGHTLY!!"

"THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT!!"

"JUST SEND THEM BACK AND BE DONE WITH WITH IT!!"

"N...no. They would start asking questions about what happened to them and then just come back here."

"WELL, WHAT DO YA' SUGGEST!?"

"Having them on this side until they ask to return home."

"That's you plan?"

"Yes."

"WHO'S GOING TO EVEN CARE ABOUT THEM HERE ANYWAY!?"

"You will, or every hour I'll say it."

"Damn bitch."

"Just do it."

"Yea, yea...can you carry the guy up?"

"...why?"

"First, he stinks. Second, he puked on himself. You carry him, and nobody would notice."

"Oh...wait, are you saying I stink?"

"And look like shit."

"SIT!!!"

_To be continued_

* * *

Me: That's one way to end a chapter. Anyone who can't guess who was talking at the end and is a fan of Inuyasha is a sad soul indeed.

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

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	5. Chapter 5

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 5: Out of Time 

"We're not in Kansas anymore." **_Various Sources_**

* * *

When Kyone woke up, she held her throbbing head, trying to do a mental recap. Okay, first she was at Kagome's. Then Kagome gets grabbed. Then Kyone tries to help Kagome. And finally, goes through the most wild ride in her life...good thing she didn't eat anything or else it'd be all over her.

Once she was conscious enough to open her eyes, Kyone at first slowly opened them...as soon as she saw a glint of metal they shot open. Old japanese weapons on every wall. Katanas of various sizes, bo's, bows, arrows, and spears. On the corner of her eye, she saw a black haired man who looked about eighteen, wore blue and purple robes, and had a smile that would make most women swoon.

Kyone just stared at every weapon, looking at every blade with an increasing drool. "...It's official. I've died and gone to heaven."

The man apparently thought she was complimenting him. "No, you are very much alive...but I could show you a...small bit f heaven."

If Kyone was in the state of mind, she might ask where they were or what he meant by that...but she cared a lot more about the cool-looking weapons surrounding her.

The man still thought it was him that she was swooning at. "Before I demonstrate that small bit of heaven, I have one question." And still, Kyone wasn't listening. Still, the robed man was not deterred.

"Beautiful lady, would you give me the honor of bearing my child?" The words landed on deaf ears. She just kept staring at the blades with an increasing drool.

After a few seconds, the man walked behind her and waited a few more seconds. "Your fascination with swords is understandable, but perhaps you should consider a different kind of sword..." Kyone then felt a hand on her rear. She didn't even bat an eyelid as her elbow swung on its own into the man's groin.

Holding back a scream, he grabbed his nether regions and opened a sliding door behind Kyone.

With a wavering voice, he spoke. "She appears to have regained her strength." He then promptly fell to the ground, whimpering.

* * *

When Zack woke up in a hut, surrounded by wounded men in traditional Japanese robes, he had two thoughts. Where was he, and was he at a drinking party where he was the only one not dressed up. Seeing some of the guys on the ground puking and tasting puke in his own mouth didn't help dispel the idea. What he remembered didn't really add up, so he thought his brain was holding out on most of yesterday...or was that still today? If he had been thinking clearly, he would have noticed he didn't have the headache one gets from a hangover.

Slowly walking outside the hut, Zack walked through what appeared to be a village. Okay, so he might have gotten drunk near an isolated carnival. How else would it be that these people he was passing by did not give him a second glance. The air still had a putrid stench, so he might be relatively close to a factory. If he had looked down, he would have seen that the stench was newly-made horse dung.

Eventually, he ended up going away from the village, into a forest. He accounted the lack of stink was due to the trees. Hearing flowing water, he walked curiously in that direction.

Soon he came across fresh water springs, shocked. Now, he wasn't shocked at the fact that there were open springs in the middle of what, last time he checked, was Tokyo. What he was shocked about was the fact that he saw two naked women in the springs. The one further from him he remembered as Kagome. The other had long brown hair, a scar on her back, and looked about 17-18 years old. From the small bits he could hear, the older girl was named 'Sango'. Zack couldn't see or hear anything else along the lines of...details. The two were too far in the water and facing the same general direction as him. They hadn't seemed to notice him, and he wasn't willing to test his luck any longer. As he was turning around, however, his foot cracked a branch.

Before he could process the thought of running, he heard Kagome screaming and going even further into the water. The girl Sango yelled, "PERVERT!!" at the top of her lungs. At the moment Zack took his third step in his run, a rock hit his head. As he fell to the ground, he realized something by adding all the details he'd seen. He wasn't in Tokyo anymore.

* * *

An old woman well past her prime arrived in her hut, full of sick and injured men of the village. In her mind, she considered taking an apprentice to learn her healing skills and weapons training...then she came up with two reasons not to. One was she was inexperienced with teaching such skills to one who wasn't an already powerful miko (priestess). Two: she may be old, but not helpless. Training a new village miko could wait at least a few more years. It was not a pressing issue...yet.

As she looked closely, the old woman noticed the man from Kagome's time was gone. Perhaps investigating the village and getting to know where he was. When she thought a bit more about the two newcomers from Kagome's time, the girl seemed more peculiar than Kagome had ever appeared.

That girl was completely enamored by the armory. Every person who tried to get her out ended up regretting even considering it. If the old woman trained the two with weapons, then they would do better than Kagome had when she started. Kagome had stumbled along and asked the old woman questions on how to improve her aim. It had gradually gotten to the point that Kagome could hit better than a military samurai...but that's not to say she had perfect aim.

The old woman heard a sliding noise, looked behind herself, and saw the man from Kagome's time being dragged by Kagome and Sango into the hut.

Sango soon stopped dragging him, and left saying, "That's as far as I'm taking him. I need to make sure our other pervert has stopped whimpering to the rocks."

* * *

Me: That came out nicely, all things considered. And the characters are starting to develop rather well...

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

Sitemap with links to every page at this site

* * *

Internet Business Showcase:

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Used Cars Guide

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	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 6: Pride of a Thug 

"Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune." **_Carl Jung_**

* * *

When Zack became conscious, the first thing he noticed was that his head felt like a rock hit it...oh wait, it did. The second thing he noticed was a bunch of spears hanging precariously above him on strings. That made him wonder just how angry those girls were. And the third thing, Kagome's voice.

"...I've only known them for seven days at most. The guy calls himself a 'lone wolf'. Stays on his own, fights random people, and has few friends. Also an idiot that..."

Before Kagome could go on any further, Zack stood up and walked out of the building. Keade just put her hand on her head and started a countdown. "Three, two, one." As if on cue, the spears went through a hole in the roof and Zack was heard screaming.

Kagome looked at Keade with a questioning glance. "Shippo got bored, didn't he?"

Keade just nodded.

Kagome sighed, and then took a deep breath. "SHIPPO, GET IN HERE!!"

* * *

When Zack heard a small noise behind him, he turned around, saw the spears from before flying straight at him, and screamed. There was no time to dodge, and he shut his eyes. After a few seconds, he dared to open his eyes. The spears that had threatened him inside the hut were now, again, dangling an inch above his head. One of the strings soon went loose and landed a spear harmlessly at his feet. Looking down, he saw that had stepped on a trip wire, but luckily he hadn't wet his pants. Okay, now he knew what just happened, but now he was fuming. Who pulled this trick?

The voice of a young boy cut through the air. "Damn. Hoping it was Inuyasha in there."

Zack quickly looked where the voice was coming from, and saw a small kid wearing clothes that seemed a size too big and had a foxlike tail. The kid's ears perked at something Zack couldn't hear, and ran off towards the hut.

A few minutes later, Zack was in the archery area of the village. Still fuming, he wished he could get his hands on the kid. That kind of thing should be outlawed. A little kid pulling a stunt like that. If the string wasn't strong enough he could have died. So, to take out his aggressions, he took out a pistol from a side pocket on his jeans, imagined the target being the kid, and opened fire. He always carried the gun, but ussually didn't need it because his fists did the job nicely. The only time he didn't have it with him was when he was on the plane to Japan, so he mailed it to himself. He didn't even remember the last time he pulled it out for more than cleaning. As he fired, he kept hitting his target but never seemed to get to the ring just out of the bulls eye. Keade watched with bemused interest. Kind of reminded her of how Kikyo used to take out her frustrations by shooting at the targets. Difference was that he couldn't seem to get any more accurate with each shot as his aggressions went down. After he emptied his clip and was about to reload, she walked over to him.

"That weapon thou usest, be it the only type thou canst handle?" Kaede had noticed that the way he held the gun was not quite expert, even if the old woman had never laid eyes on a pistol before.

"No, I can use a knife and my fists too. I'd say those are damn good weapons until things get real dicy and the other guys pull their own guns." As Zack said this, he put a new clip and and got ready to fire again. When he fired two more times with no progress, Kaede decided to lower his weapon and give him a bow along with a quiver of arrows.

"Ah. Interesting. When one uses a bow, one must be careful not to run out of arrows. Perhaps this strange weapon of yours has magical powers and can fire again and again, without end."

"No way. A gun's not much good when you run out bullets."

"Then thou shouldst not use it so much in mere practice. How many 'bullets' dost thou have in all?"

"Let's see, ten per clip...five unused clips, plus eight bullets left in this one...hm...I have fifty-eight left."

"And how dost thou plan to survive when thou hast used them all?" Kaede looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Never thought of that. I'm not the kind of bastard to conserve. More of the kind to do things as they come."

"Try to see if thou hast better luck with these." she answered.

Zack then picked up the bow, put an arrow in clumsily, tried to 'aim', and fired. The arrow went way too high, when through some leaves on nearby trees, and soon caused a cat to screech, "REEEW"

"Attempt another shot lad, and try aimin' this time."

Zack put another arrow in the bow clumsily and fired again. The shot went straight down and killed a poor, unsuspecting squirrel.

"Again, with the other hand."

At that, he switched hands, was even clumsier with placing it, and fired. It went straight up, and then landed right behind him.

"Ooooo-kay. Maybe the bow is not thy weapon." Kaede handed him a sword, tied a rope to the ground and a branch, and then stood waaaaaaaaay back. "See if thou canst cut that rope with this sword."

Zack raised his sword, but before he swung, she prompted him, "It might be wise to step closer."

Zack grimaced in embarassment, walked up to the rope and tried swinging the sword like a baseball bat. The rope moved, but was undamaged. His hands were tangled in the rope, and the more he struggled to free them, the more tangled he got.

Kaede hit her own forehead in disbelief. After enjoying the show for a few minutes, she stepped forward, and with a sparing knife cut him free.

Kaede then set up a second rope. This time, Zack tried a different method. Namely, he went back a few steps, ran at the rope, and tried to cut it while running past. Instead, the branch gave way and this time he tangled his entire body in the rope. The wise old priestess slowly shook her head, wishing her old, long-dead friends were here to enjoy this incredible show.

"If this be how well thou canst use true weapons, thou shalt not last a day in the forests without aid. Kagome said you called yourself a 'lone wolf'. That is strange, for I have never seen such a defensless wolf. " With that, Kaede walked back to the village still shaking her head. Zack wished he was an ostrich, so he could hide his head in shame.

She thought he was hopeless and helpless? Well, he would prove her wrong. He could do quite well all on his own in the wilderness, living on the land -- hunting and fishing. Of course, he could last a day. He could last five days, easily. And for his pride's sake, he must prove he could to himself, as well as to her. What little common sense he had though, had the feeling he was going to get more than he could chew.

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

Sitemap with links to every page at this site

* * *

Internet Business Showcase:

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Pet Health:   
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Hair Restoration

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Used Cars Guide

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Homecoming & Prom Dresses link-->


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 7: Naraku Makes His Move 

"Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure." **_Earl Wilson_**

* * *

Sango was considering doing what that strange girl had done -- slam the perverted monk between the legs and let him rot. She decided not to, but out of sheer habit slapped him across the face. He recoiled and then sighed.

"Sango, do you need to hit so hard?" The monk rubbed his throbbing cheek.

Sango stared for half a second, and then retorted, "Miroku, do you need to grope my ass twelve times per day?"

He meerly chuckled. "It's a curse I'm afraid."

Sango snorted loudly. "Such a perverted action would make anybody wonder if you really value your life. The void in your hand is a curse."

Miroku looked ready to retort for a second, but stopped himself. His eyes went wide, and then he held two fingers in front of them, as if to see if he was going delusional.

"What, did I hit you too hard?" Sango was starting to chuckle a little.

Miroku slowly dropped his hand. "Look behind you, and get your armor on."

All humor left Sango as she looked. At first she thought he really was going delusional. All she saw was a crow not too far away. Then, when Inuyasha drew his sword and transformed it some distance away, she near fainted. Inuyasha's sword, the Tetsusaiga, outside of battle, looked like a rusty old wrecked katana. When it transformed, though, it grew into a large, sharp blade about the size of Inuyasha himself. Since the crow's wingspan was comparable to the sword from this distance -- and that was a long distance -- she wondered how large the creature really was.

Jumping up, she grabbed her katana and boomerang, rushing towards the village to get her armor.

* * *

The sliding door was flung right above Kyone, waking her from her drooling fest about the weapons. She felt the wood skim her head. Any and all thoughts she was having about the weapons evaporated as she rushed out of the building. As soon as she left the building, she had to grab a rope from the ground just to keep her balance. The wind whirled tornado-like.

As her muscles were starting to tire, a loud, smashing sound like a battalion of tanks ramming straight into a concrete structure broke through the air. The wind kicked up, and Kyone lost her grip. Her back slammed into a wall, and she went right through it. When the winds died down enough so she could see the debris behind her, she spotted a silver-haired boy, wearing a red Japanese hakama. He was wielding a sword that looked bigger than himself. The way he was holding the blade, it looked like he had just swung it. In the direction of that swing, she saw a large cloud of smoke with the occasional black feather floating through. It looked like this boy had just killed whatever it was that caused the wind.

The monk she had met earlier and a teenage girl in black armor (who was wielding a boomerang larger than herself) were racing toward the cloud. To Kyone, it seemed like those two had already missed the show... until a monstrous claw swiped the silver-haired boy into the trees.

Kyone almost passed out when she saw what was on the other side of the smoke: a bear, big enough to rival King Kong, with arms thicker than tree trunks, stomach more bulky than a professional weight lifter, and a crazed, bloodthirsty look on its face.

Kyone wondered if she was still asleep, and this was one bad nightmare.

The girl in the black armor threw her boomerang at the monster. Just then, it blasted a feral, maddening roar. The beast's roar blew the boomerang off course, and sent it back into the armory where Kyone had spent most of the day..

Most people would have been glad they weren't in the armory at that moment. Not Kyone though. She was just angry. Not glad, not scared, but absolutely insanely pissed off that all those beautiful, delicate, delicious weapons, those wonderful treasures had been damaged, some even destroyed.

She picked up the nearest spear and charged at the bear, with no thought of her own safety.

As she moved forward, a new wind started up. As opposed to the previous wind, this one wasn't pushing objects away, like a fan; but rather rather was sucking things in, like a vaccum. Immediately, she looked behind her, and saw the monk, who had taken off his purple glove, and in the middle of his palm she saw what looked like a black hole, sucking in air and everything moveable, and even some things that didn't look moveable, like trees and huts. With one hand, Kyone quickly grabbed the nearest stable object -- a huge, boulder -- and with the other hand she held tight to her spear.

Even the boulder started to move toward the monk's damned hand. But the bear still didn't budge. Instead, hairs shot out from it as fast bullets. Six of them hit the monk: four on the right leg, and two on the left shoulder. He quickly put the glove back on and put a Buddhist rosary on his wrist, locking the glove in place.

The bear reared, as if preparing to attack the monk. But then a flurry of arrows descended on it. Some of those arrows burnt the bear's skin like acid. The rest only had the effect of bee stings.

The bear then shot its spear-like hairs towards the source of the arrows; and while he was distracted, Kyone charged again, spear in hand.

She hurled it at the bear's head, and hit it in the groin. This time, the bear didn't roar, it screeched. A high pitched screech you'd expect from a twelve-year-old girl who just lost her tickets to an Elivs-back-from-the-dead concert. After it stopped screeching and panting, it stared at Kyone, with eyes that were all white -- without pupils! Then the eyes turned dark red, green pupils appeared, and the bear roared. Or, rather, the bear looked like it was roaring -- Kyone didn't hear a thing. She just felt the wind throw her into a tree before she blacked out.

* * *

Not long ago, in a fortress hidden not too far away, a trio was sitting in a small triangle around a mirror, only the mirror wasn't a mirror. Instead of reflecting, it showed a three-D view of a faraway scene -- a bird's eye view of a large crow causing chaos, complete with sound.

A white-haired girl, who looked eight or nine, controlled the view -- zooming in and out, and turning 360 degrees.

The other girl, who looked 18 or 19, black hair, red eyes, and an elaborate kimono spoke first. "All right, I'd bet half of my food for today that Inuyasha will kill it."

Next to speak was an eleven-year-old boy with brown hair and freckles who was wearing black armor with yellow pads on his knees, wrists, and shoulders. "The girl with the boomerang...what was her name again? Shango, Mongo, Sango...whatever. Anyway I'll bet on her -- a quarter of my food and my room...not like I use it anyway."

The young girl spoke last, her dark eyes expressionless, and her voice a small whisper. "The monk, Miroku. I'll bet on him. A third of my room, and all of my food."

No sooner were the bets placed than a shockwave struck the crow. It came from an extremely large sword swung by Inuyasha. Apparently, he had done the Kaze no Kizu, AKA "the windscar." They knew that move by heart now. It had nearly killed them far too often. Feathers flew out from the smoke in every direction.

The teenage girl smirked. "Well, Naraku really sent a wimpy beast. That crow didn't even last for...huh?!?" A large, furry claw smacked Inuyasha in the face, the girl's jaw dropped in shock and dismay. She now wished she hadn't been so hasty with her bet.

The boy just shook his head. "Kagura, next time wait for the smoke to clear before you celebrate."

As the smoke cleared, a large bear appeared where the dead crow had been.

Sango threw her large boomerang straight at the bear, aimed right at its head. It just roared, blowing the boomerang over the trees and out of sight.

The boy looked aghast. How strong were that thing's lungs?

Kagura chuckled at him, "So Kohaku, are you hoping she'll have a spare boomerang? Because that's what it would take to even annoy that demon."

Then harsh winds started, as if in response to the pull of another gravity source. The monk, Miroku, had unleashed the kazana, a black hole in his right hand, usually covered by his purple glove. Everything nearby flew into the void -- trees, rocks... even a rock that had sitting on it a strangely clothed girl with a spear in hand.

The bear's hairs stood on end like from an electric shock, then one by one the hairs shot out like arrows, heading straight at Miroku, riding the wind he had created. Hairs hit him in the right leg four times, and nailing him to that spot in the ground. Another two hit him in the left shoulder. His face contorted in pain. He shut the void as quickly as he could.

Kagura grinned like a bandit who raided a king's castle. "Well Kanna, your guy is completely out of the battle. Say goodbye to your food."

Kanna just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "At this rate, they'll all be dead. Then all bets will be off."

That only got at a glare from Kagura. This was the only entertainment any of them got. Their master-jailer, Naraku, who had spawned the crow-bear demon, might torture them all for months -- slowly and playfully testing new weapons and abilities on them. If this demon failed, he still wouldn't have the entire Shikon no Tama, the jewel that would vastly increase his power.

The bear-demon started shooting arrow-like hairs again, this time aiming them where the real arrows were coming from. Under closer inspection, one out of every twenty arrows burnt whenever it touched the bear's skin.

Kagome, with the help of villagers, was shooting at the bear, but without having much effect.

The beast was winning, handily, when, unexpectedly, the spear-weilding girl crawled up, below the range of the demon's notice, and threw a spear into it's groin. The bear reared its head and screamed, then roared and blew the girl right into a tree. When the girl collapsed, the bear charged at her limp body.

Just as the bear was about to trample its chief offender, Inuyasha jumped on top the creature's head, clawing with his talon-like fingernails. Following close behind, with a katana in hand, appeared Sango. She jumped up and kicked the spear deeper into the bear's groin. The bear fell down and uttered another loud squeal of agony when Inuyasha tore its eyes out.

Sango soon took her katana, and made a few well placed slices on the bear's stomach. Within twenty seconds, it stopped squirming, then stopped breathing, then stopped living.

Kohaku walked away from the mirror, with a smug look on his face. Kagura waited for half a minute, then left shaking her head and chuckling about how she and Kanna lost the bet, and would get a vacation from the wretched food that Naraku provided.

Kanna then grabbed her magic mirror, went to her room, and put it on the shelf...

* * *

Sango was breathing heavily, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Meanwhile, Inuyasha was trying to move Miroku without removing his leg.

Sango was the first to speak. "You know...we might...owe that girl over there our lives."

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, that was a tough one, and she was helpful. But that was pure luck ... Someone ought to teach her how to use her weapons."

Miroku, still pinned, just stared incredulously at Inuyasha. "You think that was luck?!? She hit the only place that could wound that beast. That was the shot of an expert."

Sango just scoffed. "She was aiming for the head, and it landed a lot further down. We need to make sure that next time she fights, she hits where she means to... You can't expect to have luck like more than once in a lifetime."

Once Miroku was freed, he rushed to Kaede's hut. His knee and shoulder had been pierced to the bone, and blood was pouring out faster than Miroku could guzzle water on a scalding summer day.

No sooner did the proud victors leave the field, than the bear's body began to twitch. The legs and arms especially. Soon, the legs and arms began to split and generate new joints, and the skin and head peeled off, revealing its new form -- a spider, half as large as the bear. The spider stared at the village as if it were trying to memorize the location every hut and alley, then it silently ran off in the opposite direction, leaving a trail of putrid pus.

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

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	8. Chapter 8

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 8: Step Up 

"_Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy._" **_Nora Ephron_**

* * *

**Note:** The song you will read the lyrics of, Step Up, is the property of the band Drowning Pool...it just fit in so well, I had to borrow the lyrics. I do not own it, gain not money from it, and it is only the lyrics. No singer, or instrument used. So sueing for it would be pointless. Thank you.

* * *

Zack was gathering weapons at an armory on the opposite side of the village. He would have gone to the other armory where he heard Kyone was, but he wanted to keep his skull in a round shape. First on his wishlist of weapons was a katana, the standard Japanese sword. He found a blade that would have looked good in a museum of art, and that looked even better at his side. Second, a bow. This was a lot easier choice ...there was only one left in the building. Apparently, the villagers kept most of their bows at home. Plenty of arrows, and a large quiver. Then half a dozen spears and a dozen daggars.

As he left the building, he had a moment of doubt -- should he do this? He remembered that the old hag had told him that he couldn't last a day in the wilderness. He would love to see her face when he proved her dead wrong. Then a daggar fell, and when he leaned over to pick it up, all the arrows fell out; and when he tried to pick up the quiver, he dropped the spears. Before he proved his fighting and survival abilities, he would have to find a better way to carry all these weapons...mabe lose a few dozen or hire a few porters to help.

* * *

Kyone knew the three people in front of her as Sango, Keade, and Inuyasha. The old woman Keade said that if Kyone beat the village's best three fighters -- one at a time -- then she would teach her to use the weapon that best suited her fighting style.

Kyone answered that she might enjoy a fight with Sango and Inuyasha, but that it would take take average village wimps to slow her down, much less beat her. The old woman just pointed to the field behind Kyone.

Kyone turned around, and got serious quick. The first guy looked like a bald gorrilla -- hair everywhere but the top of his head, and the top of his head was a good ten feet above the ground. Was this hag trying to get rid of her quick?

The gorilla charged her rapidly, with his fist wound up for a death-dealing punch. Kyone just followed her instincts -- hit the deck before the gorilla swung, and rolled out of the way of his other arm, feeling it skim her ear lobe, nearly decapitating her.

Kyone quickly stood up and charged back. The gorilla tried to punch her again, only to see her grab the arm, and swing up and around, like it was a trapeze and she a circus performer, and he the dumbo straight man, in utter agony. To add injury to insult, she did a double-flip, as if she were showing off to an Olympic audience, and kicked him in the face with her heel, as she bowed majestically.

But her celebration was a bit premature. Before she straightened up, the gorrilla grabbed her, with one hand on her throat and the other on her crotch, and threw her in the air.

That annoyed her. Nobody threw her... or rather nobody who threw her kept his balls for long.

But she was actually more happy than mad. She was loving every second of this. It had been years since she had met an opponent good enough to put up an interesting fight. If she had just remembered to bring her iPod, she'd play her favorite -- Step Up by the Drowning Pool -- and savor the moment. So she did the next best thing -- she hummed the tune, and heard the words in her head.

She stood up slowly, smiling broading, and dancing wildly in tune with her hum. The gorilla did a double take, what kind of blood-crazed maniac was this woman?

Kyone suddenly stopped humming, and started singing out loud, "One, two, three, GO!!" The moment she said go, she charged at the ape just like she had charged at the bear... with no thought on the consequenses.

"Broken,  
Yeah, you've been living on the edge of a broken dream.  
Nothing,  
Yeah, that's the only thing you'll ever take away from me."

The giant charged at her too, with a shuffle-step of hesitation, both in confusion and curiosity. Given a choice, he'd like to hear the end of the song before he crushed her. But she was too fast, and on him while the song was just getting started. In self-defense, he swung at her, and once again Kyone ducked under the blow.

"I'm never gonna stop,  
I'm never gonna drop,  
Ain't no different than it was before."

This time, Kyone, without missing a beat in the song, rolled right between his legs and kicked upward with both feet. He shot straight up like a rocket, screaming in agony, and landed flat on his back, with red, hairy, drooling face staring blankly at the clouds.

Keeping up the tune, Kyone gracefully jumped on his chest, and did a good imitation of a tap dance -- the tapping provided by the sound of breaking bones; then did an Irish step dance on his nuts.

The spectators stared in shocked silence.

Keade searched her magician-strength memory, trying in vain to figure out how Kyone did it.

Sango covered her ears, to block out the singing. She hated that song.

And Inuyasha covered his nether regions in sympathy for what the gorilla must be suffering.

"So take some good advice,  
You better stop and think twice,  
Before you take your first step,  
Out that door."

Before Kyone finished her victory dance, her next opponent appeared -- a young man, no taller than Kyone's waist. He stared in horror, then turned and tried to walk away quietly. He would have escaped, if the third would-be fighter hadn't grabbed him and thrown him back toward Kyone, as if this were a dwarf-throwing contest.

"If you wanna step up, step up,  
You're gonna get knocked down, knocked down.  
If you wanna step up, step up,  
You're gonna get knocked down."

The short man landed, conveniently, at Kyone's feet, so she could step off one dance floor and onto another.

He rolled quickly to avoid that ignominious fate, then jumped to a shaky imitation of a fighting stance. He swallowed deep to relieve his evident stress. Unfortunately that meant that his mouth was open when Kyone's first punch landed, deep in his throat.

"You had your chance to walk away.  
Live to see another day."

The small fighter landed flat on his back and popped up immediately, like an inflatable punching doll.

She punched again, and he bounced up even faster, this time head-butting her in the gut, rather painfully.

She slugged again, spinning around for the force of the blow, so this time when he popped up, he head-butted her in the butt.

She briefly interrupted her singing to spit in his face, before picking him up and sending him back in the face of the still unknown third fighter. Then she continued her song, while waiting for that last opponent.

"If you wanna step up, step up,  
You're gonna get knocked down, knocked down.  
You're gonna get knocked down..."

But, to her surprise, the midget came flying back at her, either from his own extraordinary energy, or from another throw by the third guy.

This time he bounced high in the air, like an acrobat off a trampoline, and came down head first, head-butting her in the head.

Kyone paused to hold her head for one second, say, "Creative," then continue her song.

"Suffering,  
Yeah, that's the only thing here that's left for you.  
Nothing,  
Yeah, that's the only thing you're ever gonna -- do."

The midget paused as the words of the song sunk in his ears and as his nose cracked and then cracked again and then yet again, from one punch after another. He had been told that this cute young egotistical girl would be an easy match, and Kaede had promised to pay him the equivalent of a year's wages to rough her up a bit. With his wife hearing the offer, there was no way he could have refused. But now it turns out that this cute little girl is a sadistic fighting bitch. He had been hit so many times, so hard, that he was numb, until now, hearing those words, when all the pain came rushing in.

"I'm never gonna stop,  
I'm never gonna drop,  
Ain't no different than it was before."

She picked him up as if he were a football, and this time had the good sense to throw him in the opposite direction, where there was no one to throw him back. He went flying through the door of a hut on the other side of the village, and was soon carried out by the irate lady midget and an old lady with a cane, both of whom then proceeded to pummel him repeatedly and humiliatingly with broken wooden spoons. Worst of all, it was his wife and his eighty-year-old mother-in-law.

"So take some good advice,  
You better stop and think twice,  
Before you take your first step,  
Out that door."

The third fighter emerged from the shadows. His mustache and beard served as a mask, hiding any facial expression. His bare torso emphasized his impressive muscles, which he flexed for effect.

He charged Kyone. She confidently ducked. But he readjusted quickly and caught her in the jaw with his fist.

She tried to act as if the punch had no effect, but her jaw hurt too much to keep singing. She went back to humming the tune.

He attacked again, and it took all of Kyone's strength and skill to block and dodge. She hadn't even had a chance to try to land a blow on him.

She took a deep breath and sung again --

"So if you wanna step up, step up,  
You're gonna get knocked down (knocked down).  
If you wanna step up, step up,   
You're gonna get knocked down."

He aimed an open hand chop at her breast, but she caught his hand between her two open hands, struggling to keep it back. How dare he? Nobody, absolutely nobody touched her breast without a written invitation, in triplicate, notarized, and submitted six months in advance.

"You're gonna get knocked down..."

The hairy man spun quickly, so that the hands holding his hand wound up wrapped around her own neck, on the brink of breaking.

While she twisted and squirmed, trying to break free, but he now held both her arms in a vise grip, with his left hand, and with that same arm held her in a headlock. And with his right hand, he gently and sensuously stroked her behind the ear. It was so ridiculously unexpected and humiliating, that while continuing to sing -- to deliberately demonstrate that she was not yet beaten -- her arms and legs started flailing in all directions with force enough to break bricks. To the audience, she looked like a windmill spinning in a hurricane.

"And now you've crossed that line...  
You must be out your mind."

No sooner had she sung those oh so appropriate lines, then she sunk her teeth deep into the arm that had her in a headlock.

Moments later, she spit out a chunk of flesh, with a crimson smile.

"If you wanna step up, step up,  
You're gonna get knocked down, knocked down.  
If you wanna step up, step up,  
You're gonna get knocked down."

When he fell to the ground, spirting blood from his arm, as if it were Old Faithful, she didn't let him scream. Rather she sat on his chest, and punched his face over and over again, until it was as bloodly as his arm.

"You had your chance to walk away.  
Live to see another day."

She heard voices telling her to stop, but didn't listen.

"If you wanna step up, step up,  
You're gonna get knocked down, knocked down.  
You're gonna get knocked down..."

She was so caught up in the song and in her rage, that she would have delighted in killing this man. But, suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck, and the lights went out.

* * *

Sango didn't waste time after knocking out Kyone with a rabbit punch. She just tied Kyone up and then helped Kaede give first aid to the victims.

Inuyasha just stared at the bodies with horror.

The gorilla man named Goro was mercifully unconscious, bleeding from between the legs.

The small one, Hachiro, had a broken nose and his shoulders were impaled with the handles of two wooden spoons.

The third fighter, Daichi, was bleeding badly from the bite wound as well as from the mouth. Kaede quickly tied a cloth tightly around the arm above the wound, and stuffed another cloth in his mouth and held it down tight to stop the bleeding there as well. Unfortunately, that meant that he couldn't breath. In desperation, he pushed her away.

Inuyasha screamed, "WHAT KIND OF CREATURE IS THAT SHE-DEVIL? EVEN A DEMON ISN'T THAT...THAT...**CRAZED**!!"

Sango agreed wholeheartedly. Who could sing like that and smile like that while brutalizing three clearly out-classed thugs? Who was that thirsty not just for blood and screams of pain, but also for humiliation?

* * *

Meanwhile, Zack was having little luck. He found two creatures he could hunt, but he scared them off by tripping on a rock, snapping a twig, falling into some water, struggling to get out of said water, and getting hit by a falling branch as soon as he left the water. Needless to say, he wasn't getting breakfast that way. So he did the next best thing -- train.

He started by hitting a tree branch. The branch wasn't long, so he could use it later for archery practice...if he could get his sword to cut the thing. His every swing was good. If he had a baseball bat and was hitting a ball, he would have had six home runs and a double. He just wasn't cutting it though... figuratively and literally. In frustration, he picked up the bow, notched an arrow, and shot at a nearby tree trunk. His pride took another nosedive. He missed. From eighteen inches away. And his target was five feet wide. Zack heard a yelp from behind a bush in the direction his arrow had flown. His sinking pride was getting low enough to start a conversation with the Titanic...if it had been made back then.

Unexpectedly, the arrow came back with a few friends. He started to run and reached two entwined trees. Not a good escape route. He turned to the left, and an arrow nearly hit his nose. Wrong way. He did a 180, and an arrow almost hit his chest. While turning again, he was almost hit in the balls by another arrow. At this, Zack raised his hands in defeat.

"I give. I give. No more arrows, please!" Zack didn't use that word very often. Normally, he acted like he didn't know the meaning of the word please, or the concept of giving up. He never gave up, never was polite -- that was the thing he built his reputation on back home. The massacre of his pride and the near miss on his nether regions motivated a rapid reform. (His old teachers would be pleased.)

"Why were you shooting at me? Identify yourself!" asked a feminine voice.

Zack's pride sunk even lower, if that's possible. The girl was wearing a traditional japanese priestess hakama and haori as she stepped out of the bushes, with another arrow at the ready for a kill shot. To put it lightly, some chick with a short silk jacket haori and the feudal equivalent of jeans hakama aimed her arrow between Zack's eyes.

* * *

She had pissed from fear, and she was totally pissed off. This idiot's arrow had nearly hit her between the legs. She did NOT want to LOSE her **VIRGINITY** to an ARROW, DAMNIT!!

Kikyo was struggling for control of herself. She wanted to know who this idiot was, how he saw her, and how he managed to get in such a dangerous shot before she saw him.

Who did he work for? And why did the guy he worked for have it in for her? And... her mind was racing with possibilities, possibilities that could prove uncomfortable for her, and would certainly prove fatal for him.

Trying to ignore the smell and the wet running down her leg, she held her bow, with an arrow notched and ready, and said, "Why were you shooting at me? Identify yourself."

The arrow aimed at his head got him stumbling for the answer, quickly, "I wa-wasn't aimin' for ya'! Just was doing some ta-target practice at a tree. Believe it or not, I missed -- from less than an arm length away. Ha... ha... it was very funny, really. I'm sure you'd be laughing now if you had seen me in action... You don't seem to be taking this in good humor. Maybe if I demonstrate again, we can laugh together..."

"Don't touch that bow again unless you'd prefer to take your chances in your next life. Seeing you so far, I'd say the chances of are good you'll get a better brain next time around, seeing as how the one you have now would be an insult to an ant, maybe even an insult to a rock."

Before she could come up with better insults, she noticed he was checking her out. In return, she checked him out. His strange clothes hid any details of strength outside of his arms...and hid size details as well. Strange man indeed. His face seemed to change whenever his mood did, as if he couldn't control his facial expressions...and considering where he was looking, she yelled only one thing. "PERVERT!!"

The man stop staring, and his face contorted in anger. Apparently, forgetting the arrow aimed at his head, he yelled back, "You were staring too, damn it -- and not at my face." Got her there.

"Why you...ARGH! You're an even bigger moronic fool than I thought." Kikyo stopped aiming at him, just looking at him with her eyes blazing like fire. The bow and arrow were in her hands still, but not in firing position.

"And you're a spoiled brat," he countered, with a grin.

Kikyo was getting white knuckles. "You better watch out, boy." Kikyo's eyes went from looking like a fire to a nova.

"What's with the 'boy' bullshit. You don't even look twenty-five. Hold on, so you admit you're a spoiled brat."

The priestess was trying to hold some control over herself. "I'm as far from being spoiled as they come. I call you 'boy' because you act as helpless as one. Acting tough. Having no power or substance behind your words."

That struck a nerve. The fool looked shocked, at a temporary loss for words. Kikyo couldn't help but smirk a bit.

He finally thought of a comeback, "And you're any better? Here you are, acting like the queen of the whole damn universe. Pulling a 'holier than thou' bullshit act. I don't like RELGIOUS or POMPOUS TYPES!"

With that, Kikyo's anger surpassed anything she felt before. She started cussing. This conversation had become a no-holds-barred insult contest now...if it wasn't before.

"Damned fool. You're parents were clearly suffering from some kind of brain fever when they raised you. Might have even been diseased the night they fucked and conceived you."

Then it got ugly, and less articulate, as anger took them both far beyond wit...

"BITCH!"

"BASTARD!!"

"WHORE!!!"

They paused at that. Kikyo suddenly remembered her bow and arrow, now slightly covered in her blood from clenching her fists. Her reaction: quickly aim and fire her arrow. She aimed for his head, but hit his left shoulder.

Now, being a master of the bow, this mistake surprised her. She could fire several arrows a minute and hit multiple targets a hundred feet away, on the bulls-eye. This idiot was standing just a few feet away. Her first arrow should have gone right through his skull.

As for him, he was now cursing in pain, trying to get the arrow out...he wasn't making any progress and couldn't just walk it off. He was pinned to a tree, damn it!

Kikyo took this opportunity add, "I'm. Not. A. Whore. So, in case you think you can use me as one. Go. Fuck. Yourself." Before she could leave, he said something.

Despite his pain, he had the presence of mind to reply, "That's not the first time someone's suggested that. My normal reaction is, ladies first."

She almost just left then, leaving him on a tree to rot. Her legs wouldn't let her though. They even took her to him. The HELL? This guy was no one of consiquence. A nobody who could writhe in pain for weeks for all she cared. So why was she walking to him? A small voice in the back of her mind said something she had never heard from it before. She must be mistaken. She wasn't that kind of person anymore. She could never be that kind of person again... But maybe she might want to be...

* * *

Zack couldn't describe the pain in his shoulder -- no 21st century language had words that could adequately express this level of pain. The arrow had passed through his bone and lodged in the tree, damnit! While he was uselessly struggling to get free, he noticed the girl coming toward him. Probably to finish him off, or to taunt him while he slowly bled to death...

She grabbed the arrow's shaft and pulled with all her weight, but the arrow didn't budge. "I didn't think I put that much strength into it. Hold still."

She was trying to help him. Wait? Help? When she shot, she had murder in her eyes! So why was she helping him now? She was treating him with as much care as a cripple. That wasn't doing wonders for his ego, but she just might save his life. With their combined efforts, they got him off the tree. The arrow broke and was half still in him.

"Can't take it out any further," she explained. "Unless, of course, you want to spend the better part of a moon cycle in agony and regrowing a larger amount of bone and flesh." He agreed to that logic.

"Now wait here, I'm going to get some herbs." Within half a minute, she came back breaking up the leaves of several different plants into small pieces. She pit on them and squeezed in her hand before applying them to the wound. "This should do the trick. Do you have a spare piece of cloth I can use to wrap it?"

"No."

At that, she ripped off a section of sleeve on her haori, and ordered him very bluntly, "Take off that clothing that's covering your upper body."

Being a badass and a person who protects his image, he hesitated. "My shirt? Can't wait to see me shirtless, huh? And you called me perverted." He said it jokingly, but she didn't take it that way. She punched him in his wound. He winced.

"I'm doing this for medical reasons," she insisted. "If you don't like it, you'll bleed to death. You can put your precious garment back on as soon as I'm done." He agreed, and lost even more pride. She put the spit-covered leaves on the makeshift bandage and wrapped it tightly on his shoulder. He winced a little but didn't whimper.

"There, done." The girl was looking pleased with her work...or was that a perverse stare at his muscular, but hairless chest. He quickly put his shirt back on and saw her walking away. He was about to ask her to stay, don't ask why. He didn't know, maybe to ask why shoot him and then . She could have left him there.

But instead of leaving him there, she walked toward a nearby rock and sat down. "What was that other weapon you were training with? I remember hearing some dull thuds."

"That was me hitting a branch with a sword. In my frustration at not so much as scratching the damn thing, I shot the arrow at a nearby tree -- a big thick trunk -- and missed."

She looked at him with an eyebrow raised. Probably not believing him. Hell, he barely believed himself. A guy like him unable to even scratch a tree with a sword?

"Let me see how you swing your sword. I might be able to help with that." Seeing nothing else interesting to do, he complied. He got into his baseball batting position in front of the same branch as before. Before Zack could swing, the girl stopped him.

"I see, you're holding it sideways, so you'll hit the branch with the flat of the sword. That's good if your intention is to spank it and make it behave. But there are better ways to cut with a sword. You should hold it so the sharp part hits the branch."

Zack blushed on this discovery. Why hadn't the old woman noticed that? God! Of course she had noticed. She was laughing at him with her friends now. Everybody in this bloody country and bloody time knew by now. Wasn't old-hag-talk the medieval equivalent of network news? He made sure he'd strike the branch with the edge of the blade this time, imagining the face of the antient laughing bitch. He cut halfway through the branch on the first swing. His shoulder still felt like shit, but his ego was doing better -- it was all the way up to snot. On his second swing, the sword finished the job. That felt even better. He swung again and again, enjoying showing off. Even though all the action was killing his left arm, he didn't show any hint of it. Apparently the girl was impressed.

"Kikyo."

What? Zack had no clue what that meant. He turned around quickly and saw she was smiling, looking at the sky. He uttered the universal verbal signifier of stupidity. "Huh?"

She smiled more broadly at that. "My name, Kikyo... You're not as helpless as I thought."

That was the best complement he'd heard all day. "Zack."

Kikyo kept looking at the sky, "Now, let's see your archery skills."

This could be a disaster...

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

Sitemap with links to every page at this site

* * *

Internet Business Showcase:

Pet Boarding Services:   
Dog Training and Pet Care

Pet Health:   
Veterinary, Dog/Cat Veterinarians link-->

Insurance Investments:   
Viatical Settlements

Technology:   
RFID Tags, RFID Readers

Internet Marketing:   
Link Popularity & Link Exchanges

Hair Replacement:   
Hair Restoration for Hair Loss

Hair Transplant Surgery:  
Hair Restoration

Cosmetic Surgery:  
Plastic Surgery & Surgeons

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	9. Chapter 9

* * *

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sueStrength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 9: The Spark Before the Fire 

"_There is no fire without some smoke._" **_John Heywood_**

* * *

Something in the forest waited...and it hungered. It knew its assignment, it wanted to get it over with, but the signal hadn't arrived. As the creature watched, Zack and Kikyo were doing target practice, shooting arrows in its direction without knowlege it lurked in the shadows. One arrow flew and hit the creature between the eyes accidently. To the demon, it was as damaging as a mosquito bite, small itch and annoying. It made the creature all the more impatient, wanting to finish the job.

"No, try holding it like this. It's easier to aim that way." Kikyo did a demonstration shot. Her arrow hit the target directly.

Zack just shrugged. "Might be able to shoot better if I had some food."

Kikyo chuckled a little, and spoke in an uncharacteristic, sarcastic manner. "Right, you just might be able to aim with a full stomach. Do you really think someone trying to attack you is going to wait until you've finished a good sized meal?"

"Come on, anyone'd be a little off if the last meal they had that stayed in their stomach was a DAY BEFORE!!"

"I've shot better after going FOUR days without food. Sometimes even better without food in my gut."

Then, the demon looked up. Nothing much was in the sky. To someone who wasn't paying close attention there were just four or five flies or bees.

That was it, though. The signal.

It charged into the clearing, and leaped at an unsuspecting Zack and Kikyo...

* * *

In the hidden castle, Kagura, Kanna, and Kohaku walked into a chamber, where a long black-haired man with dark robes was smiling, like he'd just the secret that would make him...invincable. Waiting, the three stared at him with anitcipation, and fear. For this was Naraku. This was a creature that prided himself on his sadistic imagination, and his abitlity to create servants of great power from his own flesh.

Looking at the three, he seemed to radiate pleasure. "A shade of mine, Hirata, has found one who is rather...important to me. Bring this one to me alive, and quickly...quick enough so that I don't have enough time to think of an appropriate punishment if you don't bring him quick enough."

Kagura was the one to ask, "Who is this guy? Or is it a girl?"

Naraku near started laughing, "You shall know. I have sent a detachment of Saimyoushou to mark the location. Hirata is there right now." His look then changed. It changed into something that practically screamed, 'ask any more, and pain shall be your answer.'

Though Kagura wanted to know more, like why Naraku wasn't giving any details about this...target, or why it was of great interest to him, she did not want to test his patience; she knew the consequences of such a mistake -- he had literally held her heart in his hand, squeezing and crushing, without killing -- more times than she could remember, for she did not want to remember. Despite her rebellious dreams of freedom, she would do absolutely anything to avoid a repeat of that experience...

As they left, Naraku smiled again, and reviewed his plan. Once that individual was in his grasp, he would have all he needed to make creatures that none could defeat. Demon, hanyou, or human. Though he couldn't say he'd done this alone. No, he'd had his share of allies. And Naraku had the perfect reward for those allies. Yes, they would be the last to die.

* * *

Kagome was wondering where Zack could have gone. She, Sango, and Inuyasha were deep in the forest, with Inuyasha sniffing Zack's scent. Kagome wasn't worried, though. Zack had left less than three hours ago. He couldn't have gotten far. Especially if he'd gotten hungry.

Inuyasha suddenly stopped, an unreadable expression on his face.

Sango noticed immediately and asked, "What is it, what do you smell?"

Inuyasha seemed to be internally fighting himself on what to say. After a few seconds pause, that mental battle ended. "I lost his scent, damn it! He got in the water here and his scent stopped."

Kagome looked shocked for a second, then she came up and screamed in his face, "WHAT!! THERE'S GOT...TO...BE... SOMETHING YOU CAN DO!!"

He snorted, "The only thing we can do is search the surrounding area, and hope that either his scent appears again, or that he left some trail on the other side of the water. If not, it's your fault for not getting them on the other side of the well again."

That knocked all the wind out of Kagome, and she stared at the ground. If Inuyasha noticed this, or cared, he didn't say. He walked in a random direction, sniffing the air. It was her fault this had happened anyway. Those two new people were like dead-weight, at a time like this. Naraku was on the move and was getting bolder than usual. A direct attack on Keade's village was normally something Naraku avoided, even with his expendable shades. Not to mention the fact that the shade had changed forms when Inuyasha thought he'd killed it.

He grudgingly admitted that without that new girl, they wouldn't have survived, but more because of pure, dumb luck as opposed to skill. There'd be no guarantee that any training would make her an honest-to-god help.

Suddenly, Inuyasha paused again. Smelling the air to be sure, he internally cursed. A shade of Naraku had been here recently. That fool might be in more immediate danger then they thought.

* * *

Kyone was in a daze. Not from the earlier blow to the back of the head. Oh no. What she was in a daze about was a sheathed weapon. It was too big to be a dagger, but not large enough to be a wakizashi (japanese short sword). She pulled the weapon out of the scabbard, staring at it with a drool. She didn't notice what the Keade woman was saying. All she noticed was that this was a sharp blade, looked cool, and would severely damage whoever got on the other side of it. Kyone thought for a moment that she should thank the old hag. It was certainly better than anything her family had given her.

Her ogling of it was cut short, however. A quick smack to the back of her head caught her attention. Quickly turning around, she screamed, "ALL RIGHT!! WHO'S THE WISE ASS!!" What she saw was a little boy, not even tall enough to reach her waist...with a tail. Kyone was momentarily at a loss. Oookaaay. A red-haired kid...with a tail.

The kid quickly jumped up and screamed at her, shocking her out of her...shock. "I'M NOT A DONKEY, I'M A KITSUNE, DAMN IT!!"

It took a few seconds for that to sink in. Then a few more to actually understand what 'kitsune' meant. If Kyone's understanding of Japan was right, a kitsune was a Japanese fox demon of old folk tales and legends. All legends pointed to one thing, however. The kitsune could change forms at will, and make many very beleivable illusions, hence giving it the reputation of a trickster. When Kyone finally put all that together in her head, she smirked at the kid.

Seeing the smirk, the kid faultered a little. He'd seen from a distance what this girl could do to a tough unarmed fighter. The fear dissipated after she said, "Right. You look more like an over-grown mutant racoon. If you are a kitsune, prove it."

That pissed the boy off. He jumped up, and swiped at Kyone's face, as though to try scratching her. Though impressed at how high he jumped, she easily stopped the blow with her right hand. The force of the blow was almost non existent. She would have laughed at a kid that small trying to hurt her...if a sudden burning sensation hadn't begun on her arm. She jumped backwards, yelping in pain.

In just one instant while jumping back, she saw something blue fly just over her head. Quickly looking behind, she saw Keade trying to smother blue flames...wait. That kid threw fire at her. That. Kid. Threw. Fire. At. HER!!

Now, most people would run screaming. Some few others would try to mutilate the kid in retaliation. Kyone did neither. Just after staring at the small burn on her arm, she asked him a simple question. "What's your name, kid?"

He said in all seriousness, "The great and powerful Shippo."

Kyone paused for the third time in less than three minutes. Then she started to chuckle, "'Great and powerful?' I'd say you're about ten years too young to call yourself 'great and powerful'."

Before Shippo could yell, she continued, "Have to say, next time call yourself Shippo, A.K.A.: the Scorcher."

He said the most intelligent thing he could think of after that, "Huh? A.K.A.?"

Laughing a little harder, she said, "Means: also known as."

While Shippo was staring at the laughing girl like she was crazy (which she at least partially was), Keade stared at the heavens and wondered what did she do in a previous life to deserve trying to train someone who, in every way she looked, was not right in the head?

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10   
Chapter 11  
more to come

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	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sue

Strength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 10: Edge of the Hurricane 

"_Service in the army, for those of you to have experienced it firsthand, consists of long periods of boredom broken by mind-shredding threats to one's life._" **_Michael Liberty, Liberty's Crusade_**

* * *

"GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!!" No sooner had the creature gotten out of the tree, then Kikyo pushed Zack away, and started to shoot at it. Her arrows seemed to burn it like acid, but didn't do much else. The creature started spewing a web-like material, binding Kikyo's right arm to the bow, preventing her from shooting.

Scared out of his wits, Zack tried to scramble out the way he had come in. How could a spider get that size!? Even a rhino wasn't that large!! But before he could get out of the clearing, something landed right in front of him, and his mind seemed to stop, while this new creature flew at Kikyo, making a buzzing noise and aiming ome kind of stinger at her. She dodged, then glared at the creature.

Eventually, Zack. holding his head to control his dizziness, put two and two together. First the rhino-spider, now a bee comparable to a mid-sized tiger. And judging from the fact that he was hearing the buzzing sound from multiple directions, there just had to be more than one... Unless the buzzing was inside his head -- but the pain wasn't that bad... yet.

He stared in the direction of the village, then at the girl who was dodging at least a half a dozen uber-bees and a large spider. And back and forth and back and forth -- should he leave the girl who had shot him just a little while ago, or should he stand and fight?

Soon, Kikyo was surrounded and pinned down near a tree, glaring at her offenders. By chance, her eyes met Zack's. Was she trying to signal with her eyes? did she want him to run to his left and escape while she covered him? It's never easy to know what a woman wants, particularly a woman being attacked by half a dozen impossible monsters. Anyway, whatever the message was, Zack didn't get it.

He ran right towards her and spider, picking up the sword he had dropped earlier and swinging the blade at the spider's head. It lifted one of its legs and swiped, snapping the blade clear off the hilt and hitting Kikyo in her web-bound arm.

With blood rushing down one arm, she grabbed Zack with her other arm, and made a break for it. He stumbled, trying to keep up.

Soon, the demons gave chase.

Zack looked back -- shocked at the fact that the leaping spider was moving as fast as the bees. How could anything that size be that fast?!

Taking a sharp turn, Kikyo threw Zack into a cave, and jumped in after him, kicking a rock on the way that caused a cave-in, locking the beasts out and them in.

By a beam of light that shone through a crack in the rocks, like the beam of a flashlight on a moonless night, he saw that Kikyo, bruised and bloodied in more places than he could count, was still as calm as an unstoppable fighting machine who suddenly finds himself headless and pauses for a moment before gravity pulls him to the ground as a lifeless corpse. Only she still had her head...not to mention her breath. And Zack, to his embarrassment, was panting like a woman in labor.

Looking at Zack, Kikyo seemed to smile and snarl at once. "Next time, when I say to get out of a fight, don't try to help."

Shock filled his face. He stared at her like she was crazy. "But wait, you were getting killed out there. Another few seconds and your body would have been a red splat on the ground."

"And now we're both trapped in a cave, hoping that a horde of demons can't break through a wall of rocks...and if they can't get in, you can bet that we can't get out."

"What do you mean?"

"That spider is more powerful than both of us...physically at least. If it can't move that pile of rocks, we certainly can't either."

Slowly, her words sunk in. Zack sat down, and stared at the rubble. They might die in here from lack of food, lack of water, or who knows how many crazed monsters swarming in on them.

* * *

Kyone wondered why she was bothering with this stupid version of training. With the kodachi in hand, she was blocking two swords, one from in front and one behind, full-sized katanas, about three feet long, wielded by experienced warriors, and she was doing it with just one blade that wasn't even half that size. Her hands had some light cuts, but her sparring partners were clearly going easy on her.

Exasperated, she repeated the question she had already asked dozens of times, "Why can't I fight back again?"

The fossil, Keade, whispered something to Shippo, and he shook his head at the sky. The pair of them had learned from experience that the best way to get a message across to the girl was to have Shippo relay whatever Keade said. For some reason, the way the old woman spoke just confused the girl.

Sighing, Shippo answered. "Your style of fighting is too offensive, as if you've never blocked a real blow in your life. This practice will improve your defense... How many times do we have to explain that, anyway? I'm getting bored. Either improve and shut-up, or I'm gonna burn you again."

Dodging under a sideways swing, she retorted, "You try to burn me, and I'll introduce you to a wedgie."

Before Shippo could ask what a wedgie was, a black horse leaped from the bushes, pulling along a sack with its teeth. In hot pursuit of the horse appeared a short, dark-haired twenty-year-old girl in a faded red kimono. She looked exhausted, annoyed, and sad at once, moving her legs as fast as she could, and nowhere near as fast as the horse.

"C...come back you stupid h...oh forget it." Breathing hard, the girl sat down, in tears, glaring at the gathering dust in the horse's wake. Keade walked up to the girl, as if she expected her.

Kyone was curious about what was going on, but she had to deal with the two bozos swinging their swords at her. In a small fit of annoyance, she charged right between the pair, her kodachi drawn back. Jumping towards the one to the left, she slammed the hilt of her weapon into his face. Shocked, he fell over with a broken nose, screaming.

Shippo yelled, "You aren't supposed to beat these guys, just block their attacks!!"

Kyone snorted, "Come on, I'm getting bored trying to do the same thing over and over and over and-" She shut up to blocking a vicious, angry swing. The kodachi and katana met, and Kyone's wrist twisted too much in the contact. The angry blade skimmed at her elbow, cutting her. She bled lightly.

Shippo fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. As soon as he regained his composure, he replied, "You haven't really learned 'how' to block yet, ya moron. If you got in a real battle, you'd end up a stack of cold cuts and broken bones."

Kyone ducked under a swing from the other guy and punched him in the stomach, making him stumble back for a second. Then she kicked him in the jaw. "Not if the enemy was no better than this pair."

Kyone noticed that Shippo was staring wide-eyed behind her. Why he was doing that? Then she noticed a strange shadow in front of her, like a crescent moon was starting to rise over her head. Wait, the moon gave light and moved slowly, so why would it make a shadow that...oh shit.

She ran forward, hearing something hit the ground, and looked back. Yep, the guy with the broken nose had nearly killed her with his sword.

She chuckled a little, "Damn, it's been too long since I fought someone who came back for more. Oh, this might be fun after all."

In the corner of her eye, she noticed the other fighter was getting to his knees, fists clenched at his waist. Kyone then began a loud laugh, so uncontrollable and eerie that it made even her wonder if she was out of her mind.

Putting away the kodachi, her smile widened, "Ah, the season's first double-header. Two good lookin' fights, no waiting. No doubt about it, I 'love' this fucking place!!" She then charged at the one still holding his blade, yelling louder with excitement every second...

* * *

Zack pulled out his gun and checked the ammunition. The clip was full, he had a lot of spare clips, so why the hell didn't he think to use it on that rhino sized spider? Oh yea, too shocked and frantic. Forgot it even existed.

With various strange noises coming in the direction of the cave-in, he felt things would get very loud very fast. He looked at Kikyo, remembering the wound she gained on his behalf. Then he felt where she bandaged him. Feeling a special need to do something, he put his gun in front of him, started to crack his knuckles in nervousness, and stared at Kikyo's wound.

Feeling strange being stared at, she annoyidly said, "You want to say something, right? Say it, it's not as if we can go anywhere."

He paused, looked down, and muttered, "You all right?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Of course, it stopped bleeding some time ago." She moved the arm around a little as if to show him, but the remaining webbing prevented much movement.

Sighing, Zack looked her right in the eye and said, "Can I get you out of those webs, you probably can't shoot an arrow with only one hand...and I need to do something to make up for my...idiocy...getting you hurt."

For a moment she visibly flinched, and stared at him with wide eyes. She couldn't remember the last time someone offered to help 'her'. Either they asked for her help, refused her help, or just tried to get her into their bed. At one point or another, helping people became an instinct, and she avoided becoming really emotionally close to people. But the fact that he was offering, freely, to give her some manner of help...

Without even knowing it, she let out a small smile, "Thank you."

Walking over to her, he tried as carefully as possible to slowly untangle the webs from her arm, avoiding the wound as much as he could. After about two minutes, he had removed every last strand of web on her, but left his hand at her shoulder.

For what felt like hours, they stayed like that, neither moving towards or away from the other. Then a boom towards the cave-in shocked them. And another. Zack ran to his gun and Kikyo notched an arrow, both soon aiming right at the rumbling pile of rocks. They were both prepared for anything... except the rocks shattering, flying all around them by themselves in a tornado motion, all done by a woman in a fancy looking kimono, holding a small looking Japanese fan.

Kikyo stared down the woman with the fan, and fired an arrow. Just as it was about to hit her in the head, one of the large bees flew by and took the arrow right in its mid-section. Less than a second later, the bee seemed to burn to a crisp from the inside.

For a moment, Zack thought to ask what she did to that arrow...but that thought passed by the moment a rock snapped her bow. Taking aim with his gun, he fired. The woman fell to the ground, holding her right knee in shock. The winds died down soon after, the rocks landing harmlessly around the pair. They quickly ran to the right, neither wanting to stick around long enough for the spider to arrive.

On the ground, Kikyo saw the other bow lying in front of her. She slowed down to a walk, picked it up and checked it. A little smaller than her preference, and made of a weaker kind of wood, but she could adjust.

Zack seemed jittery, almost as if the trees themselves could attack. Although he clearly wasn't experienced fighting demons of any kind, at least he wasn't letting his guard down.

An all too familiar buzzing sound went through the air, and Kikyo growled in annoyance. Why the hell was Naraku attacking her like this anyway?

The two started shooting, barely bothering to aim, for there was no need to...there were dozens from every direction.

* * *

Kyone winced. "Sheesh, do disinfectants always have to sting more than the actual wound?"

The girl chuckled, "Well, what do you expect after a fight like that? Those cuts might be light, but they're alot of them." Crushing a few more herbs, and spitting in them, the girl rubbed some more disinfectant on her.

After grumbling for a few seconds, Kyone asked a more serious question. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Vera."

Kyone paused, then realized something, "Hey, you're not exactly a local, are you?"

Vera smirked, "As if you're any better?"

Kyone raised her hands in mock defeat. "You got me cornered there. So, what are you doing here?"

"Just trying to learn some of the local medical methods."

"Then why come to this village?"

"Keade is one of the best herbalists around."

"...well, the hag had to be good at something other than annoyances," Kyone replied, as Vera finished bandaging Kyone and Shippo walked by, grumbling to himself.

Finding this kind of strange from the little guy, Kyone asked, "Hey kid, what the hell are you pissed at?"

Growling...or as close to a growl a kid that small can come...he annoyidly answered, "Kagome and the others left, WITHOUT ME!! So what if that new guy went missing, they can't just leave me here!"

Jumping up, Kyone grabbed him and walked off, saying, "Then we'll just have to catch up with 'em, eh Scorcher?"

"My name's Shippo, not Scorcher."

"Yea, yea. Whatever."

As the pair walked off, Vera looked off in the opposite direction, and started her own little walk.

* * *

The area near the dry well held a hooded stranger, crosslegged on the ground, chanting. "Open the door to a world unlike this, where shadow and flame are one. Build a bridge across time, where a combination of man, devil, and machine are one. Blades shall snap, demons will cower, and this land shall always remember this as the first step to their ultimate fall."

The ground burst in flames, and the wind caused those flames to move in a swirling motion. Around the well itself, a wall of soundless lightning slowly turned into a perfect sphere, as if something was going to be born from an egg of pure electricity.

The chant continued, "Hunt, slay, kill. Do not stop until you are dead. Three-hundred strong shall come out tonight to taste man-flesh, and the ground will be caked in their blood."

Various roars and screeches filled the night, and the fire seemed to rise up and twist in various shapes. The lighting met the fire, and the unknown creatures seemed to become more agitated.

Then the chanter put his hands in his robes, as if looking for something. He pulled out a small bit of yellow lined paper, and read, "Buns, fish, corn...hey what is...oh. Heh, sorry. That's my shopping list."

Putting his hands back in the robes, he looked some more. After two minutes, he slapped his hidden forehead, and said, "Forgot to bring the right paper, I'll be right back. Just don't go anywhere, alright? Good." He then dissapeared in thin air, and left the strange scene.

A few seconds passed, and Vera walked towards the electric egg, seemingly annoyed. "How could he forget something this simple."

Sitting down cross-legged, with her arms in a prayer like position, Vera whispered, "Black as fire, cold as ice, all shall fear these creatures tonight. The soldiers of Grithom the bloody shall come, and lay waist to all in their path."

A ramp of black flames arose from the ground, connecting with the egg. Slowly starting to laugh, Vera finished, "Now the fun shall truely begin."

* * *

The clearing was filled with the corpses of demon bees, and in the center, the two were bruised and bloodied beyond belief. With the sun starting to go over the horizon, and light growing dimmer, making the clearing seem more ominous every second.

Breathing hard, Kikyo looked around, her trademark calm replaced with a bloodied, furious face. They just kept coming, wouldn't he just give it up and cut his loses?

Another round of buzzing filled the air, and Zack grumbled, "You've got to be kidding." Checking his gun, he saw he had three bullets left in this clip, and four more clips and then his gun would be useless. (There certainly wasn't any way to get more ammunition here.) He could hold off another wave or two with that, but would he be breathing after?

The first bee that came out was hit by an arrow in the wing, falling down and cringing on the ground. The next received all three bullets to the mid-section. Just as Zack was reloading, the buzzing suddenly stopped. Breathing a sigh of relief, Zack fell backwards, hitting a bush blowing with the wind. When the wind gave him a small bit of a prickly sensation, he seemed to slowly turn white as paper.

Jumping up and turning around, he pointed his gun at a bush. When he noticed Kikyo's questioning stare, he said, "For a moment, I thought that crazed spider was here."

Her eyes widened, only just remembering it. She looked around, twisting her head and searching, her face an image of pure dread.

A large smashing sound went through the air, making them both jump and look. A tree had fallen, with seemingly no reason. Kikyo sighed in relief, but then heard Zack starting to breath hard.

Looking at him, she saw him looking to the west, and she followed his gaze. Under the trees, it looked as if a scythe connected to a chain was just...floating in the shadows. It then started to move upwards, partially blocking out the full moon, and then shot straight out towards Kikyo.

She was barely able to dodge, dropped her bow, and grabbed the chain, pulling it hard. A small figure came stumbling, wearing a strange mask and holding on to the chain with one hand. The other had a strange glint on the wrist, almost as if it was reflecting the moonlight. Either a blade, or some kind of armor. Either way, Kikyo was in no mood to find out. Ducking down and grabbing the person by the leg, she pulled, making the shape land flat on the stomach.

A rumbling came from the left. Kikyo stared in horror, seemingly paralyzed with fear. That damn spider was coming slowly, and methodically. Even at full strength, she could barely annoy it. How could she deal with it now?

But something seemed to change in the air. Something that made the demon stop, and almost cringe. Something in Zack's direction...

Looking in his direction, Kikyo felt something she never did before: worry. What was happening to him, it looked like he was in some kind of pain. In the increasing dark, all she could see was his shadow going down on all fours, and hear a pained groan.

The pained groan turned into a scream, a scream of terror, pain, and defiance. Cracking sounds seemed to come from his bones, as if every one of them were snapping at once. Despite that, he started to stand, breathing heavily. His eyes had a strange bluish glow, giving off light that showed hair that hadn't been there before.

The figure didn't take advantage of Kikyo's shock. It just seemed to stare in morbid fascination at the strange sight, even as dark as it was.

* * *

Zack was breathing heavily, staring not at the ghostly looking chain-scythe like Kikyo, but at the setting sun, and then the full moon above. Damn it, why didn't he ever keep track of...this of all things? Dropping his gun, he felt in his mouth. Shit, his teeth were already becoming all canines. He had to get out of here, but he couldn't just leave Kikyo to die after all this. Indecision made him seemingly paralyzed, until the next stage began.

His blood began to boil from the inside, and he had to get on all fours to keep from landing on the ground. Every second ticked by like an eternity, and every eternity increased his internal temperature by a degree, making him moan in agony. Looking up, he saw the spider demon, Kikyo, and a strangely armored boy who looked about twelve. Wait, he could see in the dark already? Fuck, why the hell did he go out on a night like this?

All rational thought left him as his bones began their part of the transformation. Snapping, growing, and rearranging themselves in random order. Arms, ribs, legs, jaw, and some parts he didn't even know existed. He couldn't even tell what was happening around him anymore, he was just screaming from a mouth that was becoming less and less human. The pain suddenly stopped.

Looking up, he no longer saw a large, unbeatable spider the size of a rhino. He saw a weak, scared, sorry excuse of a demon and an interloper far too close to one of his pack.

Growling, he stared at the interloper lying on the ground, staring at him in terror. Then he looked at the demon, slowly beginning to walk towards him. The growl turned into a roar, and he leaped, tackling the spider and feeling only his power over the creature, and anger.

* * *

The young looking Kanna, hidden in the nearby bushes, stared at the sight, revealing no emotion of surprise, or fear. The only emotion visible on the small, white haired girl was curiosity. How could someone who was clearly human change into something that looked so wolfish.

A wolven snout took the place of a human mouth. Pointed ears on the top of the head twisted here and there, taking in every sound. Around the transformed body were the remains of what he'd been wearing, clearly not large enough to hold the increased size and muscle. Sharp claws almost camouflaged in the fur flexed as the changed body got used to its new-found power.

The most fascinating part was the eyes. It seemed as if they were glowing a blue light, cutting through the night in a glare that almost said 'I am not pleased, so I will remove you of some unnessisary organs'.

Its roar was one of fury, and indignation. As it leapt towards the demon spider, it pulled its claws behind its head. The moment its head slammed into the spider's, those arms stabbed right into the abdomen, and slowly tore the creature in half.

The sickening sound of flesh and exoskeleton tearing had clearly shocked the boy, Kohaku, from his stupor. Lifting his weapon, he threw the blade at the strange creature's back. The blade stuck right next to the spinal cord, and annoyed it, causing the creature to drop the demon on the ground, only a small sliver of furry skin keeping it in one peice.

Grabbing a peice of the chain, it pulled, the only thing preventing Kohaku from flying being his rather loose grip of the steel. Letting go of the chain, leaving the sythe blade in its back, it ran right at Kohaku. Terrified, he tried to run, but to no avail. It's teeth clamped down on his right leg just as the foot left the ground. In less than half a second, he was thrown into a tree next to Kanna viciously. She was surprised his back didn't snap from the impact.

Raising her mirror, still showing no outward expression, she focused her energy on the hands holding the innocent object. The mirror started to glow, causing the creature to tilt its head at it cautiously. Its eyes widened in what looked like surprise, and the mirror seemed to drain its strength. Stumbling onto its knees, breathing heavily, it was obviously about to go out-cold. Mustering the last of its strength, the strange wolf leaped towards the mirror, roaring defiantly.

Time seemed to stop as it neared the mirror, the object suddenly shooting out a blinding light, pushing the creature back. Its hands flung in front of it, instinctually grabbing the closest object it could reach...Kanna.

Kanna flew with the wolf, landing with the creature landing on top of her, its claws digging into her arms, its roaring mouth inches from her face. For the first time, Kanna was shaking in fear. For the first time, Kanna was sweating in dread. And for the first time, Kanna screamed as her vision became blurry, and darkness consumed her.

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10   
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

Sitemap with links to every page at this site

* * *

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	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sue

Strength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 11: All Things Change 

"_The age of men is over, the time of the orc has come._" **_Orc General, Return of the King_**

* * *

Stopping not far from the edge of the village, Kyone asked Shippo, "Okay, what direction did they go?"

When Shippo pointed, Kyone started her fast walk again, wondering why the hell she was left behind when Zack was probably hogging all the fun. The fact that it was the dead of night didn't bother her, she just kept moving deeper and deeper into the forest. If there was a fight, she would go crazy if she missed it.

Her thoughts were soon interuppted by Shippo saying, "Wait, I think I hear something."

Not even slowing down, she answered, "What is it, kid?"

His voice sounded unsteady, as if he didn't know what to say. "I...I don't know. From here, it sounds like metal clashing, screaming, and blood-thirsty growls. But...it can't be!"

This caused Kyone to stop and ask, "And why can't that be?"

Shippo's reply caused her to all but fall to the ground in shock, "It's comming from behind us, in the village!!"

"That CAN'T be, we were in there less than two minutes ago, and it was dull and boring." Taking off in a sprint, she went back in the direction she came from. She'd be damned if she let something that sounded this fun pass her by, to hell with Zack and whatever brawls he'd gotten into.

The moment she came out of the trees, she saw bodies on the ground, and huts on fire.

Walking over to a nearby body, Kyone turned it over and had to swallow the urge to vomit. This guy had bite-marks, scratches, and a weird looking knife in his boney throat. He barely had any skin left on him...what could have done this so quickly?

Out of one of the burning huts, a man dressed in a monk's robes burst out, knocking something that looked human down with his staff, and rushed off into the forest behind Kyone. She paid the man and whatever he was yelling to her no mind. All of her mind was trying to rationalize what that...that thing the monk threw to the ground was. Grey skin, yellow eyes, nothing but canines in its mouth, black chest-plate...it looked like a god-damn orc out of Lord of the Rings. Right down to the vicious smirk on its face.

With a throaty voice, it said, "Well, now. A soft looking female. Grithom said to let him feast on a fresh young girl...but since this battle was far too easy..."

The sound of metal comming out of a scabbard got Kyone out of her daze. As the blade was lifted to cut her down, she tackled the orc, starting a struggle on the ground. Both using two hands, laying on their sides, they each tried to shove the vicous knife into the other's neck. For half a second, Kyone thought she was equal to the creature in strength...then her arms felt like they were about to snap under the pressure. Sweat building on her forehead, she rolled them so she was on top and had the help of gravity. All it did was make the orc smirk, as if it loved the suggestive position, or maybe just the fact that it was still pushing the knife back at the same speed, not even slowed down.

Time seemed to stop as the point of the weapon seemed about ready to peirce through her jugular. All she could feel was the cold steel on one side and her heart pounding on the other, the two forces seeming to meet and clash. The orc suddenly screamed from pain, and Kyone didn't even need to think. The blade turned over, and met the orc's throat, making it gargle in agony. Unthinking, she lifted the blade up and stabbed again, and again, until the throat was brutally torn in two.

Breathing heavily, she looked at its face, and saw that the hairs on its head had been set on fire. Jumping up, she looked around, trying to see what could have set it. All the buildings were too far away for a spark to light it, and hair doesn't just go up in flames for no reason.

"Hey, Kyone, come-on, let's GET! OUT! OF! HERE!!" Looking in the direction of the voice, there was Shippo, looking scared and shaking. Did he...just...save her LIFE?!?

Taking the scabard of the knife from the orc, she sheithed it and smiled at the kid. "Yea, don't want to meet this guy's freinds." Walking over to the corpse she checked earlier, she ripped the blade from his throat and whipped the blood of with what was left of his clothes.

As the night filled with roars, howls, and yips that sounded familiar to Kyone's ears, she ran in the direction the monk went, grabbing Shippo and putting him on her shoulder. This was one party she didn't want to get involved in.

* * *

Inuyasha looked around, sniffing here and there, trying to figure out what had happened in this place. Kikyo's blood covered the trees, Naraku's demon bees litered the ground, killed by something the half-demon never saw or smelled before, Kohaku's blood covered the ground, but that wasn't the strangest of it. The guy Kagome brought from her time...his scent had totally changed partway in the battle. His scent went from full human to full demon. The hell?

When Inuyasha first smelled it, he thought his nose was confusing something happening...until he saw the large corpse of an obviously powerful demon spider. Arrows litered its face...or what was left of its face. Clearly Kikyo had shot it, but since her arrows clearly didn't do this, what the hell could?

Smelling even more carefully, he came to where the...whatever that guy was, fell down. Something lifted the obviously much larger body from the air, and the scent vanished. Perhaps Kagura, or a swarm of Naraku's bees. Something else came in from the air to pick up Kohaku and...Inuyasha couldn't place the specific scent of the person, all he could smell was sweat and tears. Clearly someone had been afraid out of their wits, but who, and of what? And Kagura seemed to have walked on the ground for a bit...but unsteady. Closer inspection reveiled a faint scent of blood from the wind woman. If she was bleeding, why not escape? Nothing he scented made sense.

Knowing his nose could do nothing further in this chaotic mix of scents, he looked around for something, anything, that could say where the guy could have gone.

Feh, all he could find was a pile of torn garments and a trail of torn cloth...wait. A trail of torn cloth. Rushing over to one of the peices of cloth, he smelled it. Yep, that's Kikyo's. Must have been chasing after the captured...whatever. Huh, didn't seem like the sort of thing she'd normally do...but then, he'd smelled alot of things that didn't normally happen here.

Gesturing with his hands, he pointed out what direction to go for Kagome and Sango.

Jumping from Kagome's bag came Kirara, Sango's little red feline companion. Jumping up to her master's shoulder, she rubbed against the girl's face. Anyone who didn't see this cat would wonder why it had two tails, but it didn't seem to bother any of the three.

Sango chuckled, "Looks like she liked your cat snacks, Kagome."

Climbing onto Inuyasha's back, Kagome smiled, "I'll get her some more next time I go home. But for now, let's get to Zack before we have to find out what caused this."

Giving a nod of understanding, Sango whispered something to the cat. Jumping of her master's shoulder, the cat stretched for a moment, then gripped the ground with its claws. Soundlessly, its body seemed to grow and twist. Two large fangs now comming out of its mouth, it stopped growing at the size of a small horse.

As Inuyasha carried Kagome on the ground, rushing at the speed of a car, Kirara flew in the sky with Sango on her back. If there was a reason that cat could fly, it wasn't visable...

* * *

As Kagura hobbled towards the field, her eyes went wide from shock. Naraku's bees were lifting up what looked like a cross between a wolf and a bear. Kohaku was injured in his leg, the bite marks clearly from that...thing. But the most surprising sight was Kanna.

The girl who normally acted so emotionless, and always seemed too mature for her child-like body...was shaking and disheavled. Clothes ripped and torn in too many places to count, hair as messy and tangled as possible, and gripping the grass under her like it was all that protected her, she seemed unrecognisable. Before, she always acted like a ghost with no will. No personality, so nobody would either like or hate her. Something had broken that sheild, and left her mentally reeling.

Cautiously, Kagura limped closer. This was far more scary than anything else could possibly be. When she was just behind the little girl, Kanna turned around with tears streaking down her face.

Slowly, she shakily got her hands from the ground, and suddenly started to scratch at her bare right side frantically. The pale skin soon took a pinkish color.

Grabbing the small hands, Kagura yelled, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?"

Shutting her eyes, Kanna whimpered, "N--no. Please no. No more pain, keep the pain away...are you going to cause pain? No claws? No teeth? No roaring? Is the pain gone...no. It's just waiting, waiting until I open my eyes. White eyes, brown fur. White eyes, brown fur..." Ranting, Kagura couldn't make any sense of her, letting her hands go. Still ranting, she grabbed the ground again, tearing bits of grass slowly, yet shakily. Tears constantly flowing out of her eyes, and a mad, one sided coversation flowing from her lips, she seemed trapped in her own world. A small demon girl, sitting in the backyard of insanity, was stared at by a taller, seemingly teenage girl, who didn't know what to do.

Any response Kagura had became stuck in her throat as she looked more closely at the smaller girl's hands. Redish/brownish something was on her skin and a few of the clothing scraps. It took Kagura a moment to realize something: that was dried blood. Looking at the legs, it seemed like far more blood had flowed down. Almost totally terrified, Kagura shifted a few of the rags from Kanna's torso. From the bottom of her neck to just above her crotch, spots of bloodflow were clearly visable. The fact that there were no visable wounds didn't add to or lower Kagura's anxiety.

Trying hard not to vomit, she asked, "What happened to you?"

Kanna's voice became more high pitched, screeching at the taller girl. "NO, PAIN! DON'T WANT PAIN!! LET ME FORGET, LET MEMORIES GO AWA-a-ay. P-please, I beg of you, no more pa-pa-ain. Memories turn to dust, pain go away. Memories stay, pain come back. Don't let it come back."

Kagura grabbed onto the smaller girl's shoulders, speaking as calmly as she could, "Look, I can keep you away from the pain better if I know what the pain is. Just tell me what happened to you."

Opening her eyes, Kanna asked, "Who are you, w-will you protect me?"

The taller girl raised an eyebrow, "I'm Kagura, remember?" Just how bad of a thing happened here? Kanna had an uncanny memory. For something to make her forget everything but pain and receiving it...

Kanna's head looked up and looked shocked for a moment. She then yelled, "SISTER!! IT WAS SO...wait, Kohaku!! We have to get out of here. It might come back at any time. Take out your feather, grab him, and let's get as far away from here as possible."

Kagura concidered arguing...but saw the scared expression on her face. Taking a feather from her hair, she threw it to the ground. Quickly, the small object grew to a size that would barely hold all three of them. Sitting down on top of it, Kanna at her side, she slowly flew the large feather over Kohaku. She just didn't want to look at that happy expression that sprouted on the younger girl's face. It would probably turn to horror the moment she learned that the thing that hurt her would probably be there when they arrived...

* * *

Breathing hard, Kyone just had to ask, "Okay Scorch, were we...followed? If so, how...how many?"

Shippo took a few sniffs of the air, and let out a breath in relief. "Followed by one guy, and it's Miroku."

Slowing down, catching her breath, she seemed a little annoyed at that response. "Look, you may know whoever this is by name, but I don't. Who the fuck is Miroku?"

To Kyone's increasing annoyance, he started laughing, "You mean you DIDN'T get GRABBED in the ASS by the monk? Or asked if you could BEAR his CHILDREN? Yesh, how unattractive are you anyway?"

Thinking for a moment, she suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah, I think he's the first person I saw when I woke up here! Short hair, small poinytail?"

Seeing Shippo nod, she continued, "We don't have time for an idiot's antics, we got an orc problem. If he tries to touch me now, I'll see how well I can do a circumcision on an adult perv."

The sound of metal rings clanking together came from behind them. "Ah, so you know what those demons are called? Could you enlighten us, miss?" Walking out of a bush, there stood Miroku. Bandages visible underneath his robes, and holding the ringed staff that most Buddhist monks carry, he looked at her with a questioning glance.

Sighing, Kyone tried to think of how to put this, "There are a lot of different kinds of orcs. They shouldn't even exist. They're something out of pure fiction. The one I looked at, though, seemed like it came out of the movies of Lord of the Rings!"

Sitting down, Miroku looked curious. "Though I don't know what 'movies' are, it does seem strange that imagined creatures from your time suddenly attacked that particular village. What do you know of this variation of the creature?"

"They're not particularly fond of sunlight, but can do a decent amount of damage during the daytime. Night, though, is their favorite element. Mostly, they come in large numbers when they're serious about an attack. Sometimes, they have more powerful creatures with them. But if we're lucky, they won't have any wargs with them." Kyone smiled a little. Guess watching some movies and reading something about them did pay off.

Eyes shut in deep thought, Miroku asked, "Wargs...are these creatures large human-like things with a love of smashing objects? If so, I saw at least four helping to destroy the village."

Eyes wide, she looked at him like he was crazy, "Those are trolls!! Powerful, but slow. We can outrun them on foot. Wargs look kind of like horse-sized wolves. If there are orcs riding wargs, we're going to need some more speed."

Shippo looked scared, "Would there be any way to outrun them on foot?"

Kyone shook her head, and saw the kid point behind her. There stood a pair of brown wargs in all their vicious glory. Blood on their teeth, seeming to smile at the group viciously, they advanced slowly, almost tauntingly.

Gulping, Kyone whispered, "But it wouldn't hurt to try running."

Sprinting off, wargs still walking slowly after them, they just hoped the creatures would continue to feel like toying with them.

* * *

Naraku looked at the sky, smiling as he saw his servants bring the creature. It was everything that cloaked stranger said it was. Feral, powerful, tireless, and simple-minded. If he could find a way to create more of these 'werewolves', none could stand in his way. If it couldn't be controlled, he'd just absorb it and make a shade with the same qualities. The possibilities were countless.

The demon bees dropped the creature in front of their lord, and it waisted no time. It jumped at him, glowing blue eyes narrowed. Naraku only smiled, a purple mist starting to surround him. The creature ignored the gas, and chomped its teeth down on his neck. Steam seemed to come off the creature, skin burning off wherever the mist touched it. If it felt any pain, it didn't show it. It just twisted and turned its head, biting down harder and harder.

Naraku looked ecstatic, did this creature not feel pain? Did it not feel its own skin melting and evaporating? Underneath Naraku's robes, mutiple tentacles shot out and grabbed the creature, holding it in the air. A good portion of Naraku's neck went up with it, leaving nothing but bones to connect his head and body. Struggling, it roared in defiance, as if it thought it could kill him.

Naraku started to chuckle, making the creature stop and tilt its head in curiosity. He could practically hear in the air, 'how can one chuckle without a throat'?

Starting to laugh outright, he said, "He was RIGHT!! Not only strong, but infectious. A single bite on one with any human blood, and the human part will become 'werewolf' in the next full moon night. I think I already feel the effects. Tomorrow night, I will be able to defeat ALL of my enemies. Oh, this was well worth not removing the human heart from myself. If I can find a way to make the change permanent...to always be..."

And he erupted in a full, ear splitting, high pitched laugh, even as blood poured down his body. The simple-minded creature tried to shrink away, seemingly scared. A neckless...thing, laughing like a...hell, not even hyenas laughed like THAT!!

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10   
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

Tim Seltzer's page for ideas for new games or ways to improve your own games ideas? Want to appeal to a teenage audience? Tim Seltzer, 16-year-old game consultant, could critique your plans, test-drive your prototypes, or help you develop new concepts for strategy or action games for the PC and/or major game consoles. Confidentiality. Reasonable rates. Let's talk. you like to read and you like computers, buy books on CD ROM -- hundreds of great books for the price of just one. http://store. site is published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. 617-469-2269 to B&R Samizdat Express

Sitemap with links to every page at this site

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Used Cars Guide

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Homecoming & Prom Dresses link-->


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sue

Strength Comes With Time 

by Tim Seltzer, size=1 width=100% noshade>**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Inuyasha characters. They belong to their respected (and overly rich) creators and owners. If I owned them then I'd make a movie instead of a fanfic.

* * *

Chapter 12: Not All Is What It Seems 

"_You'd best start beleivin' in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one._" **_Captain Barbosa, Pirates of the Caribbean 1_**

* * *

Kyone ran as fast as she could, trying to ignore the pain of Shippo digging his nails into her shoulder.

Squeaking in fear, Shippo stuttered, "W-we aren't losing them. The damn things are starting to sound hungry. DO SOMETHING!!"

Panting, Miroku said, "All...right. I'll open...the...Kazzana. Buy us...some time."

Before Kyone could ask, Miroku stopped running, nearly ripped off his glove, and turned the hand in the direction they had run from. It was like he unleashed a black hole. The area he pointed his hand at seemed to have a powerful wind suddenly pushing everything towards the hand. Some trees tore from the ground, flying right at them.

Kyone was scared shitless. She just stood there and watched with little to no thoughts entering her head. That glove wasn't a weird part of an ensamble...

The monk seemed to notice something, and put the glove back on, with a strange expression on his face. Kyone followed his gaze and saw...Vera? Being pulled by the wind?

Vera landed hard on the ground when the wind stopped, sliding towards the small group painfully. When she completely stopped, she stood up shakily, looking angrily at Miroku.

Shippo looked at Vera with a cautious expression, and Kyone didn't blame him. She had somehow gotten from the burning village, run past that pair of wargs, and reached them without Shippo's nose smelling her. And her clothes weren't even dirtied when she slid on the ground. Kyone wasn't an untrusting person, but this was a case where she just thought things were a little too far-fetched to be good.

Vera started to speak, "So, you had a little something prepared for the wargs? I'm surprised you didn't use it back in the village. Well, it makes no difference now. In fact...I have the perfect solution to this little problem."

Kyone felt the air around her become almost ice cold. Shivering, she looked at Miroku. Her voice showed more fear than her expression, and that was saying something. "Get that glove off again, NOW!"

Before Miroku could answer, he looked shocked, and stared at the dark haired girl with pure terror. The world seemed totally still except for her, and them. Bugs, birds, leaves, everything seemed frozen in midair like a photograph; but Shippo, Kyone, and Miroku couldn't move much other than their heads and mouths.

Shippo's body seemed to sweat a storm, and he asked, "Wha...what are you doing?! Aren't you...human?"

Vera smiled in response, and seemed to say something...but it seemed jumbled. As if it was an unknown language. "Rav mack zai. Shoki quaztan. Maganara!"

The air ceased feeling cold...and things took a change for the weirder. The ground under them seemed to shift from grass and dirt to a star filled sky. The air between Vera and the group seemed to erupt in soundless lightning. Totally freaked out, Kyone looked all around them. It wasn't just between Vera and them...it was like an egg of electricity was closing in around them.

Miroku seemed to break out of the weird paralysis. Grabbing his glove, he tried to take it off again. Tugging, pulling, and twisting, he just couldn't get it off. He yelled, "WHAT IS THIS?! I CAN'T BUDGE IT!!"

Shippo looked all around, then tried to move his feet. They seemed stuck to Kyone's clothes. He tried saying something...but his mouth wouldn't move anymore.

The egg seemed to close in until there was ten square feet around them, and the lightning became near blinding.

Kyone's body felt like it was on fire...a familiar fire. It was like when she fell into the dry well with Zack. Opening her mouth, trying to warn the others, that ice cold feeling entered her mouth. Exactly like the dry well.

In a second, the lightning ended, and the stars disappeared. Shippo unconscious on her shoulder; Miroku out cold on the ground; Kyone looked around at her new surroundings. A white lab room, with a weird-looking console behind her. It looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

Hearing an animalistic roar, she looked up. An air vent? Just where, and when, was she?

* * *

Vera stopped chanting, and looked around. Staring at a bush, she yelled, "Come out, Sarah. I know you're here."

A blond haired girl with lightning-like blue streaks walked out of the bush. Her clothes looked like a samurai's garb. "Let me guess, you figured it out when the static electricity held them motionless."

Vera growled out, "What are you doing here, Sahjan put me here ALONE!"

Sarah smiled. Not a kind smile, but a smile you might see on a shark. "Slight change in plans. We're going to need your skills in a different operation. He's gathering everyone. Soga, Kratos, Teskora..."

Vera looked at Sarah cautiously, "What kind of operation would need Teskora? He has all the subtlety of a rhino."

The blonde girl started to laugh. "You'll see. Oh, this is going to be so much fun. It's been far too long since the entire gang has been together."

Vera shut her eyes and sighed. "Knowing you, and how cheerful you are..."

"Yep, blood and gore are going to be rampant. Too bad, though, we can't see the end of this part. Sajhan's going to see the end of this piece of chaos. Oh, I love watching how he works. It's like a Broadway musical to me."

"...sadistic bitch."

* * *

When Kagura landed in Naraku's fortress, Kanna's expression changed back to its normal emotionless stare. Well, at least things were changing back to something she knew how to deal with.

Kagura looked at the feather they had flown in on, and almost did a snapping motion with her fingers. The feather shrunk to its original size, and flew into her hand. She considered putting in its usual spot...but decided against it.

Something about Naraku's last little 'mission' for them didn't seem right. Something other than Kanna's temporary insanity, or Kikyo fighting alongside a stranger. Naraku gave them less information than usual, and devoted a lot of resources to getting something even he seemed to know little about. Something was going on, and if it blew up in the bastard's face, Kagura didn't want to join him in hell.

Kohaku limped forward, and seemed to pause in surprise. Looking at the ground, he said, "Strange...there's blood here. But no signs of a struggle, no slide marks on the ground, no foot prints. Not even a demon can make things look this...weird. Like a ghost decided to bleed here."

Kagura snorted, "And how the hell would you know?"

Kohaku looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Demon slayer, remember?"

Kanna's eyes widened a fraction. Not enough to change her expression, but enough to catch Kagura's attenttion. Voice barely a whisper, the small girl said, "What else do you remember?"

Kohaku looked at her strangely, "What do you mean?"

Kagura's eyes widened a moment. That's right, Naraku repressed Kohaku's memories of his home. And if they somehow started appearing in his head, the shard in his back would send two signals. One to Naraku, saying he needs to repress them again. The other, sending intense pain to Kohaku's head, making all the memories feel terrible. The fact that a lot of the more recent memories were terrible...that was just a bonus.

But...the pain half seemed to just...not happen. Did that mean Naraku was weakening? Probably not, but still. Far too many weird happenings.

Kagura said, "Let's get inside and find out what's going on. If we're lucky, the place will be as creepy as it usually is. If not, then..."

"Ah, you've finally arrived," Naraku walked towards them, smiling yet scowling at the same time. "Tell me, how did you survive the werewolf? Did it toy with you? Or did you lure it to the bees that brought it here?"

A strange man with red hair and a brown hakima walked up next to Naraku. "Don't worry, they just got lucky. Look, the smaller demon girl was clearly used as the creature's chew toy. Now then, about my payment?"

Naraku glared, "I'm still not convinced you're telling the entire truth. Why did you reveal the information of werewolves to me? Why ask for a mere thousandth of the jewel? Why assume I'd give it to you, and not kill you?"

The red-haired man didn't even flinch. "Heh, you know I'm not the only one of my group, and you have enemies enough as it is. It isn't much I ask for, just a small piece of the Shikon no Tama. Your power will strengthen anyway, and you'll be able to destroy your enemies without such a small fraction. And after you're done with them, you can decide for yourself if it's worth trying to get such a miniscule peice when you're already so powerful."

Naraku looked conflicted. Just who was that red-haired guy, anyway? And what was that 'werewolf' thing they kept mentioning?

Naraku seemed to give in, handing over a small shard of the jewel. "If you ever come in my sight again, I'll rip that shard from your corpse, Hyezo."

"Trust me, you won't see me again. It will be as if...I left this world." The red-haired man looked like he was trying to hold back laughter. Walking off, he gave a passing glance to Kagura. Unconsciously, she shivered like from a cold breeze.

Kanna looked like she was trying to seem disinterested. But then, a girl with ripped clothes and blood stains didn't need to control her expressions. "Werewolf?"

If Naraku noticed or cared that his normally indifferent servant was asking him a question, he didn't show it. "Yes, a creature of extraordinary power. From what I was told, on nights with a full moon, one with human blood shall become this creature given certain...circumstances."

Kohaku looked at his bloody leg, gulped, and whispered, "Circumstances?"

Naraku just smiled, as if his thoughts were giving him intense pleasure. "I believe you would enjoy seeing the creature's accommodations. You might even like seeing the weak shell it has to live in."

* * *

Zack slowly took in his surroundings. Okay, chains on his arms, dried blood on his mouth, what looked like a dull stone prison all around him...not his usual bedroom, that was for sure.

For half a minute, he shut his eyes, trying to remember what happened last night. Okay, huge life threatening battle, Kikyo keeping him covered, bla bla bla. Full moon, he went wolfish, and killed rhino-sized spider. After that, total blur. Well, now that his situation was STILL a mystery...

Zack pulled experimentally on the chains. Yep, firm. They'd have to be if he was held last night...damn, his arms were cramped.

Hearing a door slide open, and footsteps coming near, he sighed. With his luck, probably some villagers from a random town he crashed in on. Hopefully, they'd think the 'demon' left, leaving 'an innocent boy' in its place.

The first person he saw was a long, dark-haired guy in blackish robes. The man seemed like a scary bastard. Great, next thing he'll see Dracula asking if he was this guy's new meal.

Next person down was that crazy wind woman from last night. As if he wasn't in a bad enough position as it was. No gun, chained to a wall, naked, and now a good- looking girl who could tear him apart with a tornado was staring at his crotch looking half disappointed and half relieved.

The next two, though, looked familiar. Oh yea, the kid with the chain scythe. Please say the blood on his leg was someone else's, please say the werewolf venom didn't go into him.

A little girl with silver hair, though, made Zack stare in wonder. Her clothes were totalled, her body covered in blood, but she didn't look like she had any wounds. She looked familiar...but he couldn't place her. He heard voices talking, but he couldn't take his eyes off her.

His eyes widened in recognition the moment he heard her whimper the words, "Blue eyes..." Memories rushed into his head at lightning speed. Feeling dizzy, he tried to put a hand on his forehead, forgetting about the chains.

Holy...so that's what happened last night. He bit the boy, and the girl was...

Zack didn't know when his 'visitors' left, all he knew was when he started puking, they were all gone.

* * *

Kikyo ran continuously, seeming not to become exhausted, not looking hungry, not even noticing when branches gave her small cuts or bruises. Tears on her clothes meant nothing to her.

Naraku did something to Zack, and it didn't bode well. This wasn't a scheme for jewel shards. This wasn't an attempt to rid himself of his human half. It made no sense no matter how she looked at it. That spider demon was clearly a shade of Naraku, but not only did her presence not affect it, it didn't seem seriously hurt when she shot it.

Slowing down, Kikyo finally felt fatuige set in. Damn it, not now! Not now!!

Her feet felt like they were burning off from sheer exhaustion, her body was sore all over, her stomach was aching for food, and her throat felt dry, as if her last drink of water was a day ago.

Breathing hard, she looked upwards. This was getting really old, really fast. What looked like floating snakes holding unseen objects seemed to slither towards her.

Sighing, Kikyo sat down, glaring at her hands. Damn it...

What a normal person would see as floating snakes twisting around her, looking at her like a meal, she saw something far different. She saw creatures supplying her body with fresh souls and letting the older ones slowly drift from her body. She saw what some called her 'soul stealers' supply her 'clay' body with the souls of recently dead women. She saw the symbol of the fact that she was no longer a 'living' being.

When she was first resurrected, the creatures were somewhat like blessings. She never needed to eat, sleep, drink, or anything else to keep from dying again. As long as she had a constant flow of souls going out of and into her body, she'd never feel hungry, thirsty, or tired again.

The problem was she couldn't eat with these souls in her without feeling pain. Drinks that she used to enjoy tasted like the clay some thought her body was made of. And anything she ingested came out a lot quicker, sometimes destroying her dignity. Until her own soul felt at peace, she'd live like a leech off others' souls. Until Naraku was dead by her hands, her torture would never end.

She'd done everything in her power to make sure Naraku would be hers to kill. Let him gather the shards, so when he has enough of them...shatter the jewel once again, tearing his body apart so even he wouldn't be able to survive. But if anyone killed him first...Kikyo would suffer eternally.

* * *

Kyone went to the console, looking at the controls -- buttons and switches with no labels to say what they were for. Just as she was about to give up hope, she saw a keyboard, a computer mouse and a screen. Hopefully that computer wouldn't need some kind of password to start it.

Turning on the screen, she looked for a moment at the desktop image. Huh, StarCraft. She had heard about it once or twice. Looked like the guy who owned this computer was a slacker. Played a game in a lab.

Looking at the files confirmed that this guy did no real work on his computer. Bioweapons, Project Rachel, Shikon no Tama, Chorika's Pleasure's, and Great Tunes. But...this place did look kind of weird. Maybe this was some sort of holographic room...nah. StarCraft was an old computer game. Why the hell would a futuristic kid who played games in a holo have StarCraft at all on his computer. That would be like an X-box 360 owner playing pong.

Hearing a moan, Kyone looked behind her. Miroku was waking up slowly, holding his head in pain. Shippo was only just opening his eyes, still half asleep.

Miroku took in the sights around him, and muttered, "Where are we? Hell?"

Kyone just chuckled, "No, looks like we're in some kind of lab. Doubt we'll be going anywhere soon, though. Whoever designed this room forgot to make a door."

Miroku looked dizzy, "What is that glowing window you're next to? Nevermind, I'll walk over to it...who makes a room pure white? I'm getting sick just looking around. Roof, walls, ground, all white."

Smiling, Kyone said, "Scientists are supposed to work in 'clean' rooms. Boring bastards in my mind. Then again, this so-called 'scientist' doesn't have anything on his computer that has to do with work. Looks like games and music."

The monk grumbled, "Look, I've got a headache already. I have no idea what a 'scientists' or 'computers' are. Talk slowly in terms I can understand."

Sighing, the tomboy looked back at the screen. "Doubt there's anything I can do, unless you've heard of any of these. StarCraft, Project Rachel, Shikon-"

Shippo and Miroku spoke as one, both surprised. "-no-Tama?"

Kyone nodded. "Yeah...why the hell would this guy have something that means 'Jewel of Four Souls', anyway? It's kind of...wait, how did you guys know that's what it says here?"

The pair ran up to her, looking at the screen. Both looked puzzled. Shippo asked, "Where does it say Shikon-no-Tama? All I see are a bunch of strange symbols."

Kyone almost called them both idiots, then something regestered in her head. That was written in English. These two, if they knew how to read at all, would probably know something like kanji. Shaking her head, she tried to kill the growing headache forming in her skull. "It says it right here. Guess I'm gonna have to translate EVERYTHING I'm reading, huh?"

Miroku nodded, muttering, "Shikon-no-Tama...is there a way to see how much more these people know of it?"

Kyone took the mouse and opened the file, ignoring the two people jumping in shock at the changing screen. "Let's see...strange. Says it's made of an unknown elemental structure. Somehow generates an almost endless amount of power. Recharges on its own, without any help. And has a strange effect around...Project Rachel and Bioweapons. Still under research, more info will be posted when available."

Miroku looked curious. "Some of that I didn't understand, but I think I understand the general idea. They know the basic details of the jewel, like great power, and its effects on living creatures. Look under 'Fio-weapons', next."

"That's Bio-weapons. Let's see...huh, cool. Two separate categories. Virus, and animals. Under animals...enhanced Liger, enhanced Condor, and a pair of totally new creatures, apparently some fucked up...whatever. Cutter, and Hunter. Yeesh, weirder by the minute...just where exactly are we, anyway?"

* * *

Sango looked down at Kagome and Inuyasha, smiling a little at the schoolgirl fast asleep, head resting on Inuyasha's shoulder. Well, someone was relaxed. Was probably a good thing, too. Now, if only it was as comfortable up there.

Sango mildly chuckled. Damn, riding Kirara was nice, but it wasn't the most relaxing thing. The one and only time she fell asleep on the demon cat, she woke up a moment later with a broken arm. Of course, she was twelve at the time, and the winds were a little stronger, but there was no need to try sleeping again.

Shifting her weight, Sango turned around until she was leaning on her butt, looking behind them. She always did enjoy a good sunrise, and it was surprisingly rare she would have a lull long enough at the right time to enjoy it. A reddish morning. Some people believed a red sunrise was a sign of bloodshed during the night...but then, there was always bloodshed somewhere.

Sighing, Sango looked at the other colors, enjoying the simple splendor. Then something caught her eye. For a moment, she thought it was a shooting star...but it was lasting far too long. Could it be an airborn demon? No, it was moving faster than any demon she'd ever heard of in the sky, and wasn't in any animalistic shape. Then a loud, whirring sound reached her ears. No creature alive could make a noise like that...

Whispering to Kirara, Sango tried to stay calm. She hated things she didn't know before, they always seemed to end badly. "Move closer to the ground. Now."

The fire cat lowered their altitude until they were close to the ground, next to Inuyasha and Kagome. Sango looked on, and hated what she saw. The object changed course, and was heading right at them.

"Shit. VEER LEFT KIRARA!! INUYASHA, KAGOME, SOMETHING'S--"

Sango's world almost completely turned silent and black. She felt a sharp pain on her back, and on her side. Damnit, what just happened?

Opening her eyes, she looked around. A ball of smoke was just in front of her. Wait...why was she laying down on the ground? And why was it so...silent around her.

Slowly standing up on shakey legs, Sango walked through the smoke, mind as foggy as the air around her. In the center of the smoke, Kirara lay on the ground, looking in terrible shape. Metal deep in her torso, rear legs looking heavily burned, and eyes glazed over.

Sango gently shook the fire cat, trying to say, "Hey, get up, we need to see if Kagome and Inuyasha need help." No sound came from her mouth that she could hear. Afraid, the girl tried to keep her composure. Putting a hand on the fur of her partner, she slowly led the hand across the cat's body. There...was no sign of life. No rise and fall of the chest to signify breathing, no rhythm that could mean a heartbeat...

Pulling her hand back slowly, Sango looked at it with wide eyes. They felt wet, and looked red. Oh, god. How hurt was Kirara if her red fur was soaked in blood?

Sango held back tears, putting her clean hand on her mouth. Kirara had been around since she was two. The fire cat had been a loyal companion, a constant presence, and a life-long friend. It just...couldn't end like this.

Hearing the sound of distant, clashing metal caught her attention. Walking slowly towards the sound, she saw Inuyasha battling greyish demons that looked humanoid. Tears disappearing from her eyes, she grabbed her sword from the strap her hip.

One of the creatures came close to her, smiling. Its voice barely reached her ears. "Come boys!! Easy pickings over here! A wounded girl...looks tasty."

Pulling the sword from the sheath, her eyes narrowed. And as the creature ran towards her, she charged, yelling away the sadness and frustration she was feeling inside.

* * *

Kagome woke up to Sango screaming, "VEER LEFT, KIRARA!! INUYASHA, KAGOME, SOMETHING'S--"

Her body flew off Inuyasha when an explosion near shattered her ears. Shaking the cobwebs from her mind, she stared at where Sango and Kirara were. Nothing but smoke and fire was there.

Inuyasha looked all around, yelling, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

Kagome shook her head. "I don't know. But a better question is, where did that come from?"

Inuyasha's ears twitched, and he looked shocked. "The fuck? Something's coming, and either it has a lot of legs, or there are a lot of them."

Kagome stared at Inuyasha for a moment, annoyed. "Why couldn't you smell them coming like you do when any other thing attacks us?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "They're coming downwind, I can't smell them from this angle."

Barking noises tore through the air, and Inuyasha drew his sword from its scabbard. Almost the moment it left the sheath, it seemed to grow from a normal sized katana to a huge looking scimitar-like blade.

Kagome got her bow, and notched an arrow. This was going to be rough, she just knew it.

Large wolf-like creatures with greyish-looking people riding them leaped from behind the foliage. Kagome fired an arrow, hitting one of the huge wolves in a shoulder blade. Inuyasha proceeded to cut the wolves down one by one. The riders each jumped off quickly, and slashed at Inuyasha with mean-looking blades. Trying to catch the grey guys with his sword, one of them ducked under Inuyasha's swings, and was able to knick him across the face.

Something seemed strange to Kagome, these things looked strangely familiar. It was kind of hard to identify, but their name seemed to be on the tip of her toungue.

Firing arrow after arrow, Kagome didn't even bother trying to see how Inuyasha was going to react at this point. There seemed to be no end to these things. One of them charged right at her, and she ducked down. Shooting an arrow into its chest, she had no time check if it was dead. Another one tackled her, and smiled at her under it.

Putting away its blade, it threw a punch right at Kagome's left cheek, causing a squeall of both surprise and pain to come from her mouth. It seemed to take delight in the sound, and threw a punch at the other cheek.

Throwing alternating punches, it toyed with Kagome under it. Feeling growing bruises, she threw her hands open wildly, trying desperately to find a way to stop it. The resistance only made it laugh, and Kagome noticed something. This thing was getting an erection from this, the growing member starting to dig into her stomach.

The laugh suddenly stopped, and Kagome looked up. Sango...she was still alive, and had put her sword through the sadistic creature's mouth, shutting it up.

Kicking the grey thing off Kagome, the demon slayer ran to another of them. Watching the older girl fight them was like watching a dancer. She deflected deadly stabs, dodged quick slashes, and used each one's momentum to kill it. One, two, three, they fell to her blade easily, the eighteen-year-old girl clearly in her element.

Kagome looked at Inuyasha, seeing him slicing through one at last. He was clearly having a harder time with the human like ones than Sango.

Something behind Inuyasha made Kagome's eyes stare in shock. Something in the shadows was aiming something towards the half-demon. Something that looked like a mini-gun...wait, mini-gun?

"INUYASHA, RUN!! GET AWAY FROM IT!!"

That was all the warning he had before the gun opened fire, bullets flying right at him.

* * *

Zack was feeling cramps and boredom slowly entering his mind. All he could do was stare at the same goddamn crack in the wall, and see the same goddamn roach run in and out of it. This had to be a violation of the Geneva Convention. Oh yeah, that wasn't INVENTED yet, along with the television, radio, or anything else that might help him forget he was CHAINED to a WALL in ANCIENT JAPAN!!

Hearing a door open, and someone step downwards, Zack sighed. Well, this might be a good time for conversation. Hell, a few more minutes, and he would have tried talking to the roach. All thoughts of talking stopped when he saw he had not one, but two visitors. The boy he bit when he was all wolfish, and the...silver haired girl. Well, at least she was in some fresh clothes. Said clothes, however, looked a little large for her. A kimono that would have fit the wind woman.

The boy was the first to speak, "Is it true? That being bitten by a...'werewolf', will make you into one?"

Zack looked at the ground. Well, this would be a pleasant little talk. "Yeah, kind of a curse. Someone bit by a werewolf will become a werewolf every night of a full moon. And don't ask why I bit you, when you turn wolven, you aren't in control of yourself."

The girl then pulled something from inside the oversized kimono. When Zack identified the object, he was a little scared. Okay, this silver-haired girl was pointing HIS gun right at HIS face. Whispering, she asked, "What is this, and how likely is it to kill if I pulled the trigger now?"

Zack tried to look as calm as possible...and failed miserably. Sweat started to appear on his forehead, and he stuttered, "N--now wait f-for a moment. Don't do a-anything rash, kid!!"

Her eyes narrowed in anger. "Do you realize what you did to me? Do you KNOW the pain, the horror, the FEAR you put in me? You bit me MULTIPLE times, TORE my skin with your hands, SLAMMED me on the ground repeatedly. And your face...it looked gleeful. Like when Naraku has gained a good chunk of the Shikon-no-Tama. And now you tell me that Kohaku and I will become creatures just like YOU?! Maybe if I kill the one that bit us, we won't turn."

The boy looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't Naraku say that those with HUMAN blood would be effected? You should be fine, you're not human, Kanna."

Zack blinked rapidly. Not human? Okay, that explains why she wasn't dead from blood loss alone last night. But if she wasn't human, what was she?

Kanna snorted, finger starting to twitch. "Kohaku, think about it. I'm the offspring of a HALF-demon. No matter how subtle, I most likely have some human blood. Now, if you don't mind, I'll do the ONLY thing I can think of to make SURE I don't turn into what gave me the most TRAMITIZING EVENT in my LIFE!!"

Zack tried to talk as calmly as possible. "Look kid, even if you killed me--and I REALLY hope you don't--you would still be affected by the werewolf venom. It's still in your veins. But, since you're not entirely human, you might not change. For all I know, whatever kind of blood you have could fight the venom off. Now, killing me would do absolutely nothing for you. Why do something entirely pointless...right?"

Kanna continued to stare at him with a glare, and aimed the gun downwards. To a place that NO man would want hurt at all. Zack looked up from his crotch, and said, "You wouldn't."

Kohaku stared at her with a small bit of sweat on his brow. "Um, Kanna? This is a little extreme. It won't do anything to help or change things."

Kanna smiled sadistically. "No, but it'll make me feel better." She then pulled the trigger, the gun aiming at Zack's crotch.

* * *

Kyone jumped up in shock. Alarm sounds were going through the air. High pitched, annoying alarm sounds.

Shippo yelled, "WHAT'S THAT SOUND?!" He held his hands to his ears, blood starting to flow between his fingers.

A genderless, mechanized voice blared above the sirens. "Test subjects loose. All non-combat personel, evacuate immediately. Security teams, move to section four-three-one and proceed with emergency field test of Project Rachel. All locks will be deactivated, and electronic doors opened. This is not a drill."

A part of the wall seemed to slowly slide away. Kyone looked at it and hit herself over the head. Automatic doors colored white just like the walls...how could anyone find their way out when the door was shut?

Miroku stared at the opening. "I'd say now would be a good time to leave."

Nodding, Kyone lifted up Shippo and walked out the door. The halls were brownish yellow, and a sign above her read: Left exit/experiment holding area, Right guard rooms/labritories/armory/Project Rachel zone.

Bullets rang out from the left, and screams filled the air. Swallowing, Kyone muttered, "Right. The exit just HAD to be past a bunch of fucked up science projects and people who might try to blast us on sight."

Miroku looked both ways, saying, "This place is going to KILL MY EARS!!"

Kyone raised an eyebrow. His weren't bleeding like Shippo's, what did he have to complain about? Hearing the shooting come closer, she ran to the right, Miroku following closely.

They soon took a sharp turn left, and stopped abruptly. A group of seven masked guards aimed their guns at them. They opened fire at the group almost immediately.

Moving quickly back behind the corner, Kyone looked ahead. Damn, the nearest door was behind past those idiots.

Whispering, she said, "Hey, Scorch, we need a distraction. Think you can pull a good trick?"

Shippo whimpered, holding his ears in pain. She looked at him, then listened to the guards walking towards them cautiously.

Miroku said softly, yet frantically, "Shippo, if you don't do something, we'll all die right here. So, do some of your kitsune magic and buy us some time!"

Shippo opened his eyes slightly, and asked, "If I scare them, will the high pitched noise stop?"

Kyone saw heard something click. In a voice filled with fear, she said, "I'll do everything I can to stop that noise, if only you do something to scare these guys."

Tears in his eyes, the little fox demon said, "You're talking like you don't know you can. The noise is so painful, and the best you can say is you'll TRY?!"

Something seemed to snap in Miroku. He started to laugh like a madman. Kyone stared at him. Oh god, was she going to die with a crying kid in her arms and a psycho monk next to her?

Miroku took off his glove and pointed the hand past the corner. Kyone couldn't keep track of all the noises. It was like she went deaf, all she heard was Shippo screaming in agony, blood still pouring from his ears.

Shutting her eyes, she started to whisper, "I don't want to die. Not like this. Please. I don't care who saves us. Satan, God, Buddha, or anyone else. Just--"

She then started to rub her hand over Shippo's head, trying to keep sane. She felt tears in her eyes, and didn't bother trying to hold them back. Why bother?

She was suddenly shocked out of her thoughts when Miroku shook her out of it. He then said, "Let's go, the men are gone."

Unbelieving, Kyone looked past the corner. Oh my god...the walls looked like they were about to collapse, the lights on the roof having done so already.

Kyone asked, "Did you kill them?"

Miroku smiled at her like an idiot. "No, I scared them off. They ran into that room over there when the lights started crashing down. Now, I'd say we should RUN before they start to gain some courage."

* * *

Kagome let Inuyasha lean on her shoulder as he limped along. Sango continued slightly in front of them, ready to kill anything that stood in their way.

Sighing, Kagome couldn't help but be relieved. The thing that shot at them wasn't armed with a rocket launcher. If it HAD been the one that shot Kirara...they'd all probably be dead.

Inuyasha finally asked, "What the fuck hit me? It tore through the fire-rat fur like it was nothing."

To most, this would seem like a stupid comment, but Kagome had seen first hand the sort of things that armor could stop. Arrows, blades, and stones couldn't rip it in the least. Even fire did no damage. Whenever something damaged the fire-rat fur, that normally meant they were in BIG trouble.

She looked at the damage to his clothes. It was hard to tell if there was really anything left of the demonic armor. The armor, as well as his blood, was crimson. And for all she knew, all he had left were some small peices of cloth covering his crotch. One thing was for sure, he looked skinnier around the chest and stomach now. His usual muscles weren't there, just...skin. Like it was...and then Kagome gasped.

Sango looked backwards. "What is it?"

Kagome whispered, "This can't be."

Inuyasha, annoyed, asked, "What can't be?"

"The places you were shot...they've reverted to human. Those bullets did something to them. What do you feel?"

Inuyasha snorted, "I feel pain all OVER, WHAT DO YOU THINK I FEEL!!"

Kagome nodded. "Yes, and your demon blood is supposed to help you ignore physical pain easily, no matter how bad the injury. Hold on, I'm gonna try taking out one of the bullets."

Slowly, Kagome put her hand on Inuyasha's chest and slowly raked it around. Finding something that felt metalic, she tried to carefully pull it out.

Inuyasha grimaced while it was taken out, but when it was removed, said, "No pain there? It felt like shit before!"

"I was right, something about these bullets does something to demon blood. Weakens it, or something like that. But...why? Why is it able to do that?"

Sango looked at the bullet. "Something that small did that much harm? How many more do you think are in him?"

"...I have no idea. Hundreds, thousands, whatever. He's covered in holes and blood, and not an inch of him is clean. This will take a long time to fix up."

The yipping sounds of the large wolves filled the air. Sango took out her sword, saying, "It looks like time is what we don't have. Inuyasha, you still able to fight?"

He took his own sword out of its scabbard. "I'll do fine, just don't get in my way."

Kagome snorted. For god's sake, even when he's covered in his own blood, and hurting like hell, he'll act like that. She just hoped he wouldn't push himself too hard.

The wolves leaped at them, and Inuyasha made an animalistic roar. As his sword changed, he swung it at a wolf comming at him.

* * *

A little girl in an orangish kimono was skipping around, picking flowers. She was humming a tune that she'd made up, and was putting the flowers in some kind of order. At one point or another, she said, "Yes. Sesshomaru-sama will look pretty in Rin's new necklace! Rin wonder why Jaken-sama won't let Rin put necklace on Jaken-sama? Maybe another of Jaken-sama's little weird traits."

A large looking man then started walking towards the girl. She looked at him curiously, yet cautiously. Something just...didn't seem right about him. He looked over six feet tall, and wore a monk's robes. His hair was short, ragged, and blue. But it was his eyes that told her this was a bad man. His face smiled, and his eyes made the smile seem...sadistic.

The man then raised his hands over his head, and then let them drop. A small circle of fire surrounded him, and he started to laugh as the little girl yelped in fear.

A toad-like person then appeared, brandishing a staff with two human heads. He shook it at the tall man. "Who are you, what buisness do you have here?"

The man chuckled, "Ah, Sesshomaru's little crew. The little girl named Rin, and the sniveling excuse of a demon named Jaken. I have a small job that requires your assistance."

The toad, Jaken, pointed the top part of his staff at the man. "I only serve Sesshomaru-sama, you ignorant little worm."

The man smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that. It just means I'll have to...leave a message."

Rin stuttered, "Me...message?"

"Yes. Your corpses."

Jaken held his staff out and the heads on it started to laugh. The man and Rin stared at the staff in surprise. Since when do heads laugh when they have no body?

Then fire spit out of their mouths, flying right at the man. The flames engulfed him, but strangely, he didn't seem in pain. He walked through the fire, smiling.

Jaken looked scared, "Wha...WHAT?! THAT SHOULD HAVE MELTED YOU COMPLETELY!!"

The man smiled. "Do you really think that I'd be killed by fire? I'm Kane, an incarnation of fire. But, I must admit, that was impressive. Maybe I won't kill you...but I will definitely take little Rin there."

Before Jaken could reply, the tall man grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into a tree. The small creature out cold, Kane stared at the cringing Rin.

He muttered, "I wonder if they'll mind if I have a little fun..."

A female voice came from behind him. "Don't do it, brother. You'll just get us in trouble."

The tall man turned around and saw a naked, blue-haired little girl. She looked around Rin's age, and could have been confused for a boy...if not for the lack of equiptment downstairs. "Kaaane, you were about to start slowly burning the poor girl, weren't you?"

The tall man flinched, "What if I was, Soki? You're not even old enough to do some of Sajhan's assignments. I'm supposed to get this kid to Naraku, as soon as possible. To help: 'test' something."

The little girl pouted. "But I want some fun."

He scowled. "What do you have in mind? Please, none of the bullshit that Reiko puts in your head."

"No. At about the halfway point between Naraku's place and here, I...brawl with the kid, here."

Kane raised an eyebrow. "Brawl? As in punching, kicking, and the like?"

"I brawled a little in a village near here. Only problem was the people were too damn easy. Three boys, and a girl. All of them crying before I was finished."

Rin stared at Soki, afraid of the smirk on her face. Internally, she prayed that Sesshomaru-sama would find her before long. She wasn't too sure what a 'brawl' was, but if some other kids were crying before it was done...

* * *

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10   
Chapter 11  
more to come

**Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim**

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Dog Training and Pet Care

Pet Health:   
Veterinary, Dog/Cat Veterinarians link-->

Insurance Investments:   
Viatical Settlements

Technology:   
RFID Tags, RFID Readers

Internet Marketing:   
Link Popularity & Link Exchanges

Hair Replacement:   
Hair Restoration for Hair Loss

Hair Transplant Surgery:  
Hair Restoration

Cosmetic Surgery:  
Plastic Surgery & Surgeons

Automotive:   
Used Cars Guide

Clothing:   
Homecoming & Prom Dresses link-->


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